Highway Blues
by Gentle Melodious Nocturne
Summary: Two years after the death of his mother Aerith, Roxas and his family move from Traverse, to Twilight Town. There, Roxas meets his step-family and a new saga of his life begins. Sparks fly, as the tension grows between the Strifes and the Highwinds.
1. New Beginnings

Highway Blues

Gazing out the back seat window of our car, into the night sky, I thought of my new life in a new city. We're headed across the country, from Traverse Town to Twilight Town. Why are we leaving peaceful Traverse for Twilight you ask? Well my dad's been stationed there. You see my dad, Cloud, or as his colleagues call him "SOLDIER 1st Class Cloud Strife", is in the military. He is a retired frontline man, and is now an electrical engineer. He is a strong stern man, and a disciplinarian. He loves his job as a "SOLDIER" (Don't ask me why it's all in CAPs) and goes where he's needed without delay. Unfortunately, that means sacrifices for everyone. He's been trying to comfort us as we make our way to our new destination. We've been driving for several hours and each time I look back I see my old life slowly gliding away before my eyes. Hayner, my fraternal twin, and my older sister Selphie are both sound asleep but no matter how much I might want to fall into sleep's sweet bliss, I find myself wide awake. My dad told us about a woman he met in college named Tifa. She has three children: 11 year old Seifer, 6 year old Rai, and 5 year old Fuu. He has been seeing her for a while now, and they got married about half a year ago. I haven't really talked to her children much, but she seems nice enough. Even so, what I wouldn't give to have MY mother back. She died 2 years ago of lung disease. Even now I can't believe she's actually dead. The doctors had told us she could die, but they had been telling us that for the past year! It had been a miracle, really, that she had lived this long but all the same I never expected her to actually die; none of us did. I still remember the day my dad came home in tears. It was the 4th of July and we were supposed to go to visit my mother in the hospital and then go to a party to celebrate. He walked through the front door and told us that our mother had passed away. I couldn't believe it. I hitched a breath and let the information sink in. It all seemed so surreal, like a dream almost. My mother, whom I loved, who home schooled my for nearly four years, who had fought this lung disease to the very end; my mother Aerith, was dead. I didn't cry, but inside I was crushed. We all lied on the couch, a blanket of thick air covering us. My father called our family and friends and told them the bad news. Then, everything from then until the funeral was a blur. Like someone wiped my memory clean away. It was weird, the funeral. I don't remember being sad. I actually remember running around the church pews with my cousin Sora while everyone else was watching the lifeless corpse in mourning. I guess my body decided to cope with the loss by not thinking about it. Later on after the funeral my dad signed me up for a charter school. I thought it'd be great. School only twice a week, what could be better? Unfortunately, they gave you a TON of homework to make up for it. Being the unorganized slob that I am it is needless to say I didn't do well at that school. I was, or rather am, pretty lazy. So I would..._occasionally forget_... to do homework. But that's beside the point. I'm moving to a new city, with a new school, and a new life and as much as I liked my old life; there is nothing I can do about it. I just pray my new step family will accept us.

My name is Roxas Strife, I'm 15 years old, and these are my _Highway Blues._

**A/N: Well this is my first REAL fanfiction! Hopefully it didn't bore you but I had to set up the plot somehow and I wasn't sure about how to do it. Criticism is welcome. Depending on how this goes I might make a sequel. ;) But right now I'm planning for this fanfiction to have a time span of about a year, so when the story is over, Roxas will be a Junior in high school and 16! Oh yeah and I know how Seifer is supposed to be Roxas' rival and all but believe me there will be A LOT hostility between the two despite the age difference. As for Namine, there will be some romance but not a whole lot since it is not the central theme of this story. :D Til next time on Highway Blues!**

**PS. could someone tell me how to double space on the edit/preview document thing ;).**


	2. Natural Born Rival

_Highway Blues_

_Natural Born Enemies_

"...xas"

"...oxas"

"Roxas..."

I open my eyes drearily to a voice that is both soft and powerful. My dad, Cloud, is standing over me gently nudging me awake. The smell of the sea gently blows through my open door. I open my eyes fully and it looks like we are near a coast. I see a beach and open sea with an island not too far out on my left and a small town to my right. This is definitely NOT what I expected Twilight Town to be like. This place is small, peaceful. Kind of like Traverse Town! I step out into the gas station parking lot excitedly. Maybe the transition wouldn't be so bad after all! The rising sun warms my face. It looks like this is where we spent the night. Dad probably just planned to take a short nap and ended up sleeping throughout the night. No matter. With the sun beaming down warming me up and a cool soft breeze comforting me, for once in the last few days I feel at peace. I stretch out and look up into the perfect cloudless sky and then turn to my dad.

"So this is Twilight Town?" I ask excitedly. Although I already know the answer will be-

"No." At this I slump down back into my seat and hunch over. I was actually excited to live here. (sigh)

"This is Destiny Islands" he continues as he looks over the horizon. "This is where we are going to meet with Tifa and her children. Tifa lives here right now along with a few of her relatives. We're going to meet her at her brother's house and stay there for the night. Tomorrow we will all ride together to Twilight Town."

I guess my dad took notice of the disappointed look on my face 'cause he knelt down beside me and held me close.

"Listen," he says softly, "I know your upset about the move. I know it must be hard for you to see me in love with someone other than Aerith. But everything is going to be alright. Tifa is not going to try to replace your mother. She loves all of us and wants the best for all of us and so do I. This will all work out for the better Roxas. I promise. OK?"

I nod my head in response and give him a half-hearted smile. He beams at me and stands back up.

"I've already talked with Selphie. She seems happy as can be at the thought of getting new siblings." he chuckles. "She went inside to get us all something to eat. I'm gonna go check and see what's taking her so long. Wake up Hayner for me alright?"

I smirk at the thought of waking up Hayner. You see, Hayner is a very very deep sleeper. And sometimes, even after you have waken him up, he is still, what's the word, _dazed._ Basically, he sleep talks and dreams with his eyes open. Sometimes it's funny, but other times, it can get really annoying.

"Alright."

At that he turned around and went into the store.

"Hayner." No response. I nudge him, "Hayner!" Still no response. I shake him violently, "HAYNER!" finally his eyes flick open.

"Duuude" he drawls, "No need tah yell." Awesome! He's awake! "i'm playin' da sung now, wull be on the Great Bay soo..." The last words are barely audible as he falls back to sleep. (sigh) Looks like this is one of those "other times". I grab a water bottle, pull him out of the car, and begin throwing water into his face until he wakes up.

"DUDE! What was that for!" He seems pretty angry. His cheeks are pink and he appears to be fuming. Oh well, at least he's awake.

"To wake you up. Duh. You were having another one of your 'episodes'." Then an idea hits me. Quick as lightning I put my plan into action. " HAYNER! There's a spider on my leg! Help me get it off!"

His eyes widen, and a look of concern and horror overcomes his anger. His head shoots down and his eyes lock right on to... the circle in front of my leg. Concern turns to confusion, then to anger, and finally to frustration as he walks over to me and turns so his right arm is facing me.

"Just get it over with!" he mutters "And please, not too hard. I just woke up."

I cock back my fist and sock him in the arm, while trying to stifle a laugh. He begins walking back to the car.

"Gotta love the Circle Game huh Hayner." I say while trying, and failing, to hold in fits of laughter. "Oh yeah and Hayner." I say in between fits of giggles. He turns to me. "I think you've just lost The Game!" I can't hold it in any longer. I burst out laughing. He just walks back into the car muttering something about me paying for it. While rubbing the red mark on his arm. Courtesy of me. Yeah I'm just that awesome. Now that I'm in a slightly better mood, I can feel my stomach calling out to me for food. Finally, Dad and Selphie walk back out of the store carrying a bag of food and drinks. He hands me and Hayner each a large blueberry muffin and a bottle of orange juice. Then he hands Selphie her doughnut and places both their coffees in the cup holster. All the while reminding us not to spill any food or drink in "HIS" car and that if we do we'll be cleaning up ALL of our mess. We've heard his lecture about how "not a crumb will be left on MY floor" and "every drop of juice spilled WILL be cleaned up" that we pretty much, well, got it memorized. We all head off towards our new family's house, occasionally stopping to ask for directions and look at maps. Along, the way dad explains our step-family's situation.

Apparently, Mrs. Tifa, that's what Hayner, Selphie, and I call her, was in an abusive relationship with her husband Cid Highwind. For the first few years there was no physical abuse but he did have a sailor mouth and did not respect women. He all too often belittled her but, being the fighter that she was, Mrs. Tifa stood up for herself. Finally, Cid took it to the extreme and began beating his wife. She called the police and he was taken to jail. He is out now and has remarried. I hope that woman knows what she is getting into. Tifa only sees him every now and then when she drops the children off at his house. Although she has custody of the children, she has to take them to see their father every other holiday. Apparently, when they get back, they are spoiled rotten and it takes a few days for Tifa to straighten them out. While Tifa is glad to be rid of Cid, her children see it differently. Of course all three of them still love their father, that is to be expected. And the two youngest, Rai and Fuu, don't have much of a problem with their situation as long as they still get to see him. Seifer on the other hand takes it to the extreme. He sees no fault in his father and sometimes blames his mother for the problems in their relationship. Even though his mother was the one who took him to practice, took him to his struggle matches, took him too his friends house and did pretty much everything for him, effectively spoiling him, he still gives all the credit to his father, not thanking her for anything! Personally I think he sounds spoiled and ungrateful to anyone but his father and dad says that is pretty much how it is. Dad says that each of them has their own little quirk too. Seifer, besides what has been mentioned above, has really bad anger issues and is also obnoxiously prideful. He is very hard-headed and has a "my way or the highway" kind of attitude. Rai, has ADHD and it is very hard for him to concentrate on one task for very long. He likes to move a lot and often ignores people, like his mom, if he is doing something he deems more important. Like watching television. The only one he gives full attention to is Seifer because he is much quicker to "punish" than Mrs. Tifa. Fuu is very quiet and can be hard-headed at times. She is the easiest to deal with because she is slightly more submissive than the other two. Unfortunately, Seifer uses this to his advantage to get her to do things she knows are wrong. Basically, Seifer has his younger two siblings literally wrapped around his little finger and there is not much Mrs. Tifa can do about it. Even when she disciplines them, they still do what they are not supposed to. And somehow, Seifer retains just as much, if not more, control over his siblings than Mrs. Tifa. It's sad really and I'm not being sarcastic. I'm serious. Well that's the Highwind's for ya. Speaking of them I think dad is stopping at a house.

"We're here." my dad calls to us "We are only staying here for one night, so only take out clothes for tomorrow and clothes to sleep in and no Hayner, boxers don't count. We are the guests and should treat the owners with respect. Showing respect also happens to include wearing clothes Hayner. Now let's head inside so I can properly introduce you to you're new family."

He begins to step out of the car till I call out to him. "Dad, why are we meeting here instead of at Mrs. Tifa's house?" I ask

"Well, Roxas, after we discussed how things were going to work out, she sold her house. We are going to use that money to help build ourselves a new house."He is about to sit out until...

"Well, where are we going to live while the house is being built?"

"(sigh) The navy has supplied us with an apartment. It will be a tight squeeze. But I believe all of us will be able to live there comfortably. Alright?"

"But dad-"

"Look Roxas," he states firmly "We have everything taken care of. You're going to be fine OK?" There was a tone of finality to his voice that said "this conversation is over".

"Ok." I said, though grudgingly. We all step out onto the driveway and begin pulling our clothes and toiletries and stuff out of the trunk. When I actually took time to step out and look at the house it looked huge. Not like a mansion but definitely big enough for all of us. It has a large two car garage and is made of painted white brick. It has three steeples on the front and a large pillared stoop leading to the door. We step up to the door and ring the doorbell. After waiting a few seconds I see an eye poking throughout one of the windows near the door. The second I make eye contact it disappears behind the curtain. It seemed to be glaring at me but maybe it was my imagination. We ring the doorbell again and a man with blonde shortcut hair answers the door. He is slim and is wearing several earrings. Almost as if he took his entire collection of earrings and made a piercing for each one.

"Hello. My name is Luxord." He greets us with a small bow. He seems nice. "I am Tifa's brother. You are Cloud my brother in law I presume?" He speaks with a slight British accent.

"Yes!" I can tell my dad is excited to meet him. "It's nice to meet you Luxord." He stretches out his hand and Luxord gives him a nice firm handshake. 'The sign of a fine and respectful man' as my dad always says. Apparently you can tell a lot about a person based on their handshake.

"These are my children. This is Selphie." Luxord gives her a a light hug and asks her how she is. She replies with a warm smile and a 'Fine. Thank you.'

"This is Hayner." He shakes his hand nice and firm like he did my dad but Hayner decides to return the gesture by smirking and trying to squeeze the life out of Luxord's hand. Apparently, Luxord is stronger than he looks, 'cause while Luxord had a mischievous smile on his face Hayner was wincing in pain. Luxord finally let go looking triumphant and Hayner got not only a cold look from dad but a harshly whispered 'You deserved it!' from him too. Hayner looked down at in defeat after I whispered 'EPIC FAIL' into his ear and tried to stifle a laugh.

"And who is this?" He asks while looking at me dead in the eye. It seems like he's trying to read my thoughts through my eyes.

"My name is Roxas." I introduce my self and raise up my hand to shake his. He hesitates for a second, and then finally shakes my hand nice and firm as he had done for dad and Hayner. His eyes never leave mine. Slowly but surely a smile graces his face.

"It is nice to meet you Roxas. Just had to make sure you didn't have anything up you sleeve like your brother." He releases my hand and looks toward my father. "You're all ready to come in and get settled?"

"Yep. We have everything we need for the night. And tomorrow morning." he adds

"Only one night?" He looks up thoughtfully. "I was under the impression you would be staying till Saturday."

"Why is that?" My dad asks curiously

"Well, there is the Destiny Island Festival is on Friday and Tifa seemed quite ecstatic about taking you and your children to show them the sights. My younger cousin, Setzer, is also quite excited and wants to go on all the 'big rides' with Roxas and Hayner. He comes here every year for the festival but doesn't have any family members his age to go on the rides with. Well, there is my younger sister Larxene, she's 22, but she's, well, kind of..." he sighs and rubs the back of his neck "Well, just be glad you won't have to meet her until the festival. That is, if you choose to stay. Will you?"

Dad rubs the back of his neck and furrows his eyebrows in thought. Me, Selphie, and Hayner all look at him with the best puppy dog eyes possible. He cracks a smile and sighs.

"Can we stay until Monday? I won't be able to sign into the apartment until then."

"Of course!" Luxord beams. "Well do you want to pick up the rest of your stuff in the morning or would you rather take care of it now?"

"Lets go ahead and take care of it now.'" Dad says as he yawns.

Luxord waits by the door while we leave to get our stuff.

"I wonder what's at the festival!" says Selphie dreamily

"I don't know but it sounds awesome. Hey Roxas could you grab my wallet from the cat and put it in my pocket? My hands are full." And indeed Hayner's hands were full

"Sure!" I put my suitcase down and grab his wallet from the car.

"Oh! And be sure to put it in my left pocket." Now, I thought it was weird that he was asking me to put it in a specific pocket but hey; my brother is pretty weird so I didn't think twice about it. My mistake. When I bent down to put his wallet in his pocket, I was both amazed and frustrated at the same time. In the few seconds I was gone, he had managed to rearrange FOUR suitcases, without dropping them mind you, so that he was holding a 35lb suitcase in his pinky finger with a perfect circle attached to his side. I was dumbfounded. Now, last I saw him, on his right side he had two of Selphie's bags, one in his armpit and the other in his hand. On his left was a duffle bag and a suitcase but BOTH of the were in his hand! How he got that dufflebag strap around his neck and shoulder I will never know. I look up and see him grinning evilly waiting for me to accept my punishment.

"Hmph!" I stand and turn to my side waiting for him to punch me. "Whatever!" I scoff. "It's still 2-1 since you lost the game earlier." I stick my tongue out like a little kid. His smile never wavers.

"Well if that's the case," he says as he cracks his knuckles, smile wide as ever, "I better make this one count then shouldn't I!" He pulls his arm back and just as he is about to punch me-

"HEY!" Dad calls, "Stop fooling around get over here with those bags!" As we walk up the stoop with the bags Hayner whispers a 'We'll finish this later' and stalks over to dad. Luxord looks down at the different bags.

"Got everything you need?" He asks.

"Everything!" My dad answers cheerfully.

"Well then let's-" He stops mid sentence and his smile turns into a grimace. "Um. Cloud, did you by any chance have to ring the door bell more than once?"

Dad gave him an awkward look but answered his question

"Oh it's fine. We didn't have to wait long any-" Luxord holds up his hand and motions for my father to stop talking. He looks to the ground, furrows his eyebrows, and uses his free hand to rub his eyebrows. He sighs and gives my dad a sad smile.

"Listen. You have met Seifer before right? You know how he was when he first met you. Well, he hasn't changed at all. In fact, I think the sale of his mother's house has made him worse. I heard the doorbell the first time but he told me it was from some game of his. He is young and naïve and probably thought that you would just leave if nobody answered the door. Luckily I saw you through one of the steeple windows. Please be wary when around him. All four of you in fact. I think he gets his aggression from my sister but that is besides the point. You're always welcome in my home, just be promise to be patient and sensitive with him alright?"

My dad answers for us "Don't worry Luxord we will be." Dad flashes him a warm smile.

"Thank you for understanding! Now, lets get you guys situated."

"Hey, um, where's Tifa?"

"She went out to buy some food. We are running low at the moment." Dad just shrugs and follows Luxord inside.

As we enter the house I realize it is even bigger on the inside than it seems on the outside. As I stare in amazement at the different pieces of art, the beautiful chandeliers, and enormous kitchen a boy with silver hair about my age walks up to us looking ecstatic.

"Hey! My name's Setzer. Your Roxas and Hayner right?"

We both nod yes

"Awesome! Finally someone my age to hang out with. You guy know how to play Texas Hold'em? I have been waiting for a few new people to play with. Luxord taugh-"

At this Luxord coughs very loudly and glares at Setzer. We all give Luxord a curious look and Setzer blushes slightly in embarassment.

"Oh sorry, er, so have you guys played?"

As Setzer begins to ramble I look around the house again when something catches my attention. Behind Setzer I can see two small teal eyes literally glaring daggers at me. I recognize them as the small eyes I saw earlier in the window, so I glare back. It seems to last an eternity but eventually he breaks and I relax with a smug look on my face. The owner of the eyes was a small pale looking boy with a black cap on his head. He glanced back at me, furrowed his eyebrows and turned away. It was at that moment that I realized who it was. The young boy that had been glaring at me was Seifer. I could see contempt in his eyes and it was at that moment that I realized we were _Natural Born Rivals._

**A/N: Hi All! I already have the outline for the next chapter and a half done. All I have to do is type em. :D For those of you who don't understand the Circle game here are the rules: you have to get a person to look at at circle made by your fingers. It has to be below the waist. If they look at it you get to punch them! I play it with my brothers ALL THE TIME it is soooo much fun! XD Everyone should try at least once. Also, for those of you who are upset that Selphie only gets on freakin' line in the whole chapter she will get more lines in the next chapter. To be honest I did not know what to do with her in this chapter but there will be more Selphie in the next chapter. Also Namine is introduced in the next chapter to help a distressed Roxas ;) Till next time on _Highway Blues!_**

**CHALLENGE!**** - I made a reference to an old Nintendo game somewhere in this chapter. I think this one is pretty obvious so it shouldn't be too hard. :p The first one to find it gets a preview of the next chapter! I'll update by Sunday at the latest for the next chapter but after that ****it will probably be once a week every Saturday/Sunday. What with school and wrestling season coming up soon. I won't have as much time to update. :( However this story will NOT go on Hiatus unless something really tragic happens in my life (like I die or something serious like that). Anyway, enough rambling, time to post this story!**

**Review Response:**

**.Fish. - lol yeah I don't even remember the time when I was posting it. Just that it was late _. Also, Congradulations! You're my first reviewer! XD**

**MoroPinky - Thanks! I definitely will!**

**PhantomGirl12 – Thanks for the tip! I will try to keep the updates coming as fast as I can**


	3. Infamous

_Highway Blues_

_Infamous_

"And this is where you will be sleeping Roxas." He has already shown everyone else where they will be sleeping. Dad is sleeping with Tifa in her guest room and Selphie gets her a room of course, being both a girl and the oldest at 20. This leaves just me and Hayner. Now, there is only one room left. Obviously both of us want it. How do we settle it? With a wrestling match of course! He almost always beats me when we struggle, though the matches are usually pretty close, so we wrestle to settle our disputes now. Unfortunately, dad did not approve of us holding our "barbaric decision making process" in the living room and made us play rock paper scissors! Ugh! That game is SO stupid! It's all luck and I know for a fact Hayner cheated. Whatever. The point is Hayner got the last room and it is too small for me to sleep on the floor so I have to sleep in the loft. I was grumbling all the way up the stairs until I finally saw the where I would be sleeping. It's not so bad. If fact, it's great! I mean, there's like zero privacy but there's a pool table and a couch to my left, a large television to my right, some plants in the corners, and some pictures on the walls. There is a beautiful chandelier hanging over a cherrywood coffee table and the chandelier is controlled by a dial! How awesome is that! Straight ahead, there are three white doors and in between the doors are two large pillars. The room is huge and could easily fit 3 or 4 people comfortably. "There is an air mattress over in the corner beside the couch along with the pillows. The blankets and comforters are in here." Luxord motions for me to stop playing with the dial and come over. He opens the closet on the left to reveal several large comforters and sheets all with different designs. They looked expensive and one looked like it was made of pure gold! "Eh! Don't use that one Roxas! It is very expensive."

"Can I _touch_ it?"

"Oh yes just be gentle. It's up high for a reason. I don't want those _neanderthals _getting a hold of it!"

I chuckle inwardly and whisper to myself, "neanderthals..." He looks at me and raises an eyebrow. I whisper a quiet 'sorry' and he reaches up for the gold cloth. He grabs it from the top rack and slowly and gently places it in my open hands. The second it touches my skin I gasp. It feels soft and slippery against my finger tips. Almost like water but with a little more substance. It's much softer than silk but it still retains a cold metallic feel. It has "made in Wales" etched in silver in the bottom corner. I examine it in awe.

"This is amazing! Where did you get it?" I exclaim my eyes never leaving the liquid gold cloth. My eyes quickly skim over every inch of it.

"My father sent it here from Britain. He also sent me a card and a few pictures. It was very nice of him to do so."

"Why did you decide to move to America?" I ask whilst handing him his cloth back. He places it back on the top shelf and sighs.

"Well, I didn't move to America." He explained while leaning against one of the pillars. I mimic him, leaning on the pillar opposite him. "Tifa, Larxene, and I were both born here. Our mother is American you see and our father had already been living here for about a year when he met our mum. They got married and had us. About a year ago, father asked us if we wanted to go to Britain with him and mum. Unfortunately, he kind of asked us out of the blue. As you can see I am a success here in america. Tifa was married to Cid at the time and as stubborn as he was there was no way he was leaving 'good ol' america'. Then again, if she had left she would have never met Cloud..." He smiled to himself at this. He obviously doesn't like Cid based on the way he spoke of him and he at least approves of dad. "Anyway, Larxene was and is still in college so she wasn't going either. It was just very inconvenient at the time for all of us. All the same, even though he was disappointed, he understood and respected our decisions and left about a month later without us. At first I regretted my decision since I had always lived within driving distance of my dad but I eventually got used to it. I realized that this is where I need to be to make a living until I retire. There are certain opportunities in America that just don't exist in Britain, as you probably already know." He looks up thoughtfully.

"What kind of opportunities?" I ask curiously.

"What do you mean?" He asks turning back to me.

"Could you give me an example?"

He shrugs, "My job. You don't find jobs as lucrative as mine in Great Britain now do you." There's something odd about the tone of his voice when he mentions his job. Huh, maybe it's just my imagination.

"What is your job?"

"A lucrative one." He says with a sly grin.

"I mean, what do you do?"

"I work." He says this with a bit of sarcasm.

"I mean, what kind of job is it?" I'm starting to get frustrated.

"The kind you can't find in Great Britain." I groan and his grin grows wider. He knows he's frustrating me and he seems to like messing with my head.

"Er. What I mean to say is what-"

(_ding dong_)

"Ah! That must be Tifa. We will have to continue our little chat later Roxas." He begins to walk downstairs but then turns around and says, "You know Roxas, 'counting' is a very useful skill when practiced regularly. Unfortunately, if you 'count' carelessly, it could get you kicked out of your favorite casino." He winks at me, turns around, and leaves me in the loft, defeated and dumbfounded.

As Luxord had said, it was Tifa at the door. Er, sorry, Mrs. Tifa.

"Hey everyone!" she says as she walks in with about four large plastic bags in each hand. She is a lot stronger than she looks, just like Luxord. Hm, must run in the family. Hayner and I, being the gentlemen that we are forced to be by our dad, walk over to take the bags from her. She thanks us with quick strong hugs. There was no need for introduction since we had meet her before of course. Dad walks past us and encompasses her in a great bear hug but she doesn't seem to mind. In fact she returns it with a bear hug of her own and a long, passionate kiss. My heart sinks a little when I see dad return it. I know they are married but I can't help it. I probably should have expected it and been used to it since I had seen them kiss before, but... (sigh) It just seems to openly express the fact that mom's dead and she isn't coming back. I feel the back of my eyes stinging and decide to turn away before I start crying my eyes out. Before I turn away, however, Luxord catches my eye and gives me an understanding nod. I mouth a thanks and he gives me a warm smile. I traverse down the walkway into the kitchen, set the bags of food on the large island. I let the cool of the marble tiled seep through my socks and take a deep breath. Hayner notices.

"You OK dude?" He asks, genuine concern in his voice.

I take another deep breath and speak, "I'm fine, thanks though." I give him a reassuring smile and hold out my hand to do our 'secret' handshake.

He chuckles, "Well, if your feeling that great then," he grabs my wrist, pulls me in, and hammer fists my arm. Hard. I stagger backwards and trip over a large chair. Luckily, I fall onto the carpet and not onto the marble floor. Hayner just cracks up then walks over to me and offers his hand to help me up. Like a fool, I look at his hand and see ANOTHER circle but this time he just lightly taps me on the shoulder then helps me up.

"I believe we're even now." He says proudly.

"Ha! Not for long. I'll get you later. I'll have won by the end of the day." I say matter-of-factly

"Yeah, right." he scoffs. He walks over to one of the bags on the island and pulls out a large green apple. He begins looking through the cubers. "Hey Luxord!" he shouts, "Where are the cups?"

He walks in and shows Hayner where the cups are.

"Thanks." he mutters while looking through the fridge for something to drink.

I look back towards the door and see dad and Mrs. Tifa chatting animatedly while holding each other close. I quickly turn away and look at Luxord. I think he followed my gaze.

" Um Luxord?" I ask nervously. He turns back to me "Would you mind giving me a tour of the house?" I ask. I'm hoping that this house will take my mind off of, you know.

"Sure." He says enthusiastically. I think he knew why I wanted to see the house and was more than willing to give me what I wanted. I followed him upstairs.

"This, is the loft." He says over dramatically.

I laugh, "Luxord, you've kinda already shown me this. About ten minutes ago." I add.

"Didn't you say you wanted a tour of the house?" He says raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yes but-"

"Then be quiet and allow me to finish." I shut up. "Thank you. Now as I was saying, I don't know why you want to see the loft so badly since I just showed you about ten minutes ago."

"But I just said-!"

"No matter." He says waving it off with his hand. "On with the tour!" he says loudly before I have a chance to retort. Unfortunately, he was so loud that he woke up Selphie who was on the couch below us.

"What's going on?" she asks waking up from her nap. She rubs her eyes and looks up to see us on the loft.

"Nothing Selphie." I say quickly. I would rather have this be a private tour. Don't ask why 'cause I don't even know why. It's just how I feel. Maybe I don't feel like hearing Selphie's big mouth. Maybe I'm just grumpy. Who knows, the point is I would prefer not to have Selphie tag along and I'm sure Luxord would agre-

"We are having a tour!" he says enthusiastically walking down stairs toward the living room, with me tailing after him. "Would you like to join us?"

Pft! I can tell she's still tired and if I know Selphie, there is no way she would be up for something like-

"Sure!" she says as if she had not been sleeping at all. "Ooooh! Can I see the loft?" she asks excitedly

"But we already-!"

"Of course!" he says with a smile. I just sigh and follow them back up the steps. Luxord begins to show her the different aspects of the loft as she oohhs and ahhs at everything. "Alright!" He says "If you would just follow me..." He says as he walks back downstairs. Finally, on to some other part of the-

"Hey. What are you guys up to?" Hayner asks curiously. Oh no.

"We're having a tour!" Selphie squeals excitedly.

"Yes and a GRAND tour it has been so far!" Luxord says loudly. "Oh, Hayner," he says smirking at me evilly. No NO NOO! "Would you like to see..." he lets the last words hang, savoring the moment, then finally he says slowly and dramatically, "T-h-e L-o-f-t..." He lets the words hang in the air. Finally Hayner answers. Please say no, please say no, please say-

"Sure! I don't see why not." URGH! I just sit and wait another ten minutes as he shows Hayner and Selphie around. Apparently Selphie's second time around the loft is as exciting as the first.

"Alright! Well that is the loft!" he announces. Finally! "Now lets head to the-"

_(ding dong)_

"Oh, sorry. Looks like we will have to continue this tour later. I have to get the door. Now, I wonder who that could be..." he mutters, walking downstairs towards the door and opening it.

"ARGH!" I groan loudly walking downstairs. I look towards the doorway and turn a light pink in embarrassment when I see who is at the door. Not only are Luxord and my dad, who was still talking with Mrs. Tifa, glaring at me but there is a girl standing next him her blue eyes wide in shock. She has shoulder-length platinum blonde hair that looks soft to the touch. Her skin is very pale and she looks skinny and frail. She is about a head shorter than me and is wearing a knee-length white dress and blue sandals. Now, all this observing obviously took some time. Probably about a good minute of silent staring went by before Selphie decided to bring me back to reality.

"Uh, Roxas?" she says between fits of giggles. My eyes shoot toward her and realization hits me. Selphie is giggling madly, Hayner is trying his best not to burst out laughing, Luxord is grinning evilly at me, dad is smirking at me, Mrs. Tifa is literally beaming with a huge grin on her face, and the girl in white is looking down at her feet nervously with a blush on her face.

"Uh..." is all I can manage at the moment. I look around the room trying to find a way out. Oh- "I, uh, need to use the bathroom." I make to dash out of the room when, again, realization hits me. I don't know where the bathroom is! I sheepishly turn around again.

"Uh Lux-" I stop mid-sentence, assess the situation and think about it. Luxord is probably not the best person to ask right now. Especially with that smile he's giving me. It's just teeming with mischief. No I better take the safe route. "Er, Mrs. Tifa. Do you know where the bathroom is?"

"Oh! I'll tell you in a second Roxas." she beams at me and stands up walking towards me. I don't like where this is going. "Have you met Namine?" She asks, looking from me to Namine. I can feel everyone staring at me and I don't like it. Not only are they making me really nervous but now I've got the this cute, er nice looking, girl staring at me too and she's making me even more nervous!

"No." I say sheepishly. This is SO embarrassing.

"Well then, Roxas, this is Namine. Namine this is Roxas." She pushes me toward Namine and I stumble over to her. I can hear Hayner dying of silent laughter in the background. Oh he is so going to pay once I get out of this. OK Roxas, breath, calm down. It's just a girl like any other. Ok. Here goes.

"Hello Namine. I'm Roxas." I say sticking out my hand for her to take. You know, I was feeling pretty confident. That is, until Hayner had to embarrass me again by stating my mistake out loud.

"Dude!" he says, snorting to hold back his laughter. "Mrs. Tifa already said that!" he says stifling a laugh, "Sorry I have to go to the bathroom. You know, 'cause I already know where it is." he adds, as he stalks off. It wasn't really a mistake but it still made me feel worse than I already did. I put my head down in defeat, stuff my hands into my pockets and sigh. How I'd love to wipe the stupid grin of his face. All in due time. Anyway back to reality. My confidence level slowly begins to crawl its way back from the negatives, when she reaches out to take my hand and shakes it.

"Don't worry about it." she says, and gives me a soft, warm smile. "My name is Namine. It's nice to meet you Roxas." Her face lights up when I grip her hand back and give her a nice, firm handshake. We smile at each other and for once in the past ten minutes I don't feel nervous! What a relief. Luxord must have noticed my calmed expression and apparently did not like where this was going.

"Sooooo. Roxas." he asks smoothly. "Why were you staring at Namine? Considering the fact that you don't know her you most certainly have a good reason." Oh he's good. Apparently, it's his job to torture me to no conceivable end. Good thing Hayner isn't here.

"Yeah, why were you staring at her?" asks Hayner returning and sitting back down on the stairs. Things just went from bad to worse. Thankfully, dad decided that I had had enough embarrassment to last a lifetime and decided to step in.

"I don't know Hayner. Probably the same reason you staring at that brown haired girl out the window on our way here." Dad said with a smirk. Hayner instantly flushed and turned away without another word. Thank you dad! Now about Luxord.

"Hey Luxord, why don't you come over here for a sec I want to tell you something." said Tifa in a sugary sweet voice. She pulled him against his will to the other side of the room. They began whispering harshly back and forth and after about a minute she came back, patted me on the head and told me she had, 'straightened him out' for me. I thanked her and took a glance at Luxord. He was pale faced and looked a little angry. Ha he gets what he deserves. He walked back over to Namine and I.

He took a deep breath and breathed out to re compose himself. "So, what do you need Namine?" he said, putting on a smile. Albeit, a false one.

She thought about this for a second before replying. "Oh, yeah. Heh. I was wondering if you got my message. Only Olette and I could come this year since mom and dad are on a business trip. So my mom rented us out a hotel to stay in but I thought it would be more fun to stay with you guys since we are all going to the same place. That is if you don't mind my me staying. If I stay here Olette will stay with some friends of hers so it will be just me. Mom already said it was OK so that's not a problem." I wait in anticipation as Luxord furrows his eyebrows in thought. Then he gasps, and looks up with his eyes wide and his evil grin returns. He looks towards Tifa and they seem to be having a silent conversation. Finally she just sighs and nods yes. The color returns to his cheeks as he beams at her, then me, then Namine, then back to me, and finally to Namine.

"Of course you can stay Namine. But you will have to sleep in the loft since there are no rooms left." he said with a sly grin. I rack my brain but it seems to frozen. What could possibly be bad about Namine sleeping in the loft?

"Oh thank you." She beams, "That's fine. It can easily fit four or five people last I checked." What's so special about the loft? Think THINK!

"Oh about that you will have to share the loft with one other person." Then it hits me.

"Oh I don't mind. Who am I sharing it with?" she asks innocently.

"Oh no one special. Just, Roxas."

At this her face heats up a little bit, "Oh, that's fine. Um, I'll go tell Larxene so we can head back to the hotel and get my stuff. She actually drove me here and is waiting in the car." Luxord chokes as she says this and he goes pale again.

"I'm sorry. I don't believe I heard you correctly. Did you say 'Larxene' is here?" he asks feebly.

"No you heard her right. I'm right here." She says with a smirk. She walks in and leans on the side of the doorway. She looks kind of like Luxord with the eyes but her hair color is much brighter yellow. Also she has to long strands of hair sticking out. Almost like, antennas. "Is that any way to treat your sister?" she asks, her smile never leaving her face. Luxord just looks troubled. I wonder what it is about her that causes him so much stress.

"Oh! I'm just, uh, surprised. I, um, didn't expect you until later this week." He says putting on a half-hearted smile. After which, he looks down at his feet and scratches the back of his head.

"Right." She looks around the room. "Hey Tifa!" Tifa walks over to her and gives her a big hug. She walks Larxene over to us.

"These are Cloud's children. This is Selphie." She walks her over to Selphie. "She is actually pretty close to your age. She just turned 20."

"Hey Selphie." They shake hands and greet each other. Tifa walks toward Hayner.

"This is Hayner." Hayner, still a little red in the face, just gives her a small handshake and a quick smile. Then looks down at his feet.

"Hey I remember you." she says fondly

He looks up at her curiously, "You do?"

"Yeah. Your the guy Olette says was staring at her from out your window, making her feel nervous. Kinda creepy if you ask me." she chuckles lightly. "She probably thought you were gonna ra-"

"Um, Larxene." he says looking a little embarrassed, "Why don't you take Namine back to her hotel to get her stuff. Why, it's already..." he turns back to look at the clock. "5:39 and I'm sure you have loads to pack." He pushes them towards the door without giving Larxene a chance to respond. He closes the door just as Namine shouts a thank you and leans on the door, sighs and begins sliding toward the ground. After an eternity of silence Mrs. Tifa gets up.

"Well, I better get dinner started."

"Need any help?" Selphie ask getting up.

"Sure!" she says and Selphie follows her into the kitchen.

"I'm gonna take a quick nap." says dad and he walks off to his guest room, leaving just me, Luxord, and Hayner. I sit down next to Hayner on the steps. He acknowledges my presence with a small grunt.

"You know, if I had to use one word to describe Larxene, it would probably be infamous." Luxord piped.

I look over at Luxord both curious and confused. "Infamous? What does that mean."

"Well it means that she's-" he starts, but Hayner cuts him off.

"Ha! My naïve brother. Surely you know what it means to be infamous." Luxord is about to speak but Hayner cuts him off. "Don't worry Luxord I'll handle this. After all, I'm pretty infamous myself." He says this with pride. Luxord decides to listen and appears to be amused. "You see Roxas," he talks to me as if I'm slow, "To be infamous means you're MORE than famous. You see this girl Larxene, she's not just famous, she's INfamous. Although, I don't see why. Perhaps a better word would be evil, or insensitive. It was a good stab at advanced vocabulary though Luxord. Well done, but maybe next time."

Luxord just stares at him in amusement and amazement. Then he finally speaks. "Thank you Hayner. I'll be sure to make a note of it."

Hayner stands up looking smug. He doesn't seem to notice the slight sarcasm in Luxord's voice, I did. "Anytime Luxord. Well I think I'll go take a nap like dad. Could one of you wake me up when dinners ready?" Luxord nods. "Thanks." He turns around and walks towards his room. Once Luxord hears his door shut he begins chuckling to himself.

"What is it?" I ask

"Your brother. He thinks he's so smart. Just for your information that is NOT what it means to be infamous."

"Well what does it mean?"

"It means you are well known for something bad or rather bad qualities. At least he got the famous part down. I said Larxene is infamous because while she is not a bad person in general, she is well known for being insensitive, indifferent, aggressive, overly competitive, those sorts of things."

Now I'm chuckling. "So here is Hayner, trying to give me English lessons on a word he doesn't know himself." We both start laughing until we hear noises from a room in the back. Seifer and Setzer step out into the main area. Seifer looks nonchalant but Setzer looks a little troubled. I say hi to both of them but both of them just walk past me without even saying anything. I expected this from Seifer but not from Setzer. Maybe he just didn't notice me. I shrug.

They step in front of Luxord, "Hey, we're going to the park to hang out. Tell mom I'l be back soon enough for dinner. K?"

Luxord furrows his eyebrows, "Why don't you ASK her if you can go outside so she will know you will be home on time for dinner?"

"Setzer doesn't have to ask!" he retorts.

"Setzer is 15 years old and his parents gave him a curfew. He can go wherever he pleases as long as he is back here by midnight." I guess 12:00 am is his curfew "You are 11 and will report to your mother before leaving this house!"

Seifer sneers, turns around, and curses under his breath. Luxord must have caught wind of it. "And you WILL watch your tongue while you are in this house!" Luxord adds.

Seifer ignores him and continues walking away. Setzer just sighs and follows him. Luxord is flustered and looks about ready to burst. "I'm heading into the kitchen for a drink. Please excuse me." Luxord heads into the kitchen and I decide to follow him. In the corner of my eye I see Seifer on the opposite side of his room window trying to convince Setzer to go outside with him. After about a ten second internal battle, Setzer concedes. He grabs a couple of struggle bats and heads outside. After he makes his way through the window he catches my eye and gives me an apologetic look and mouths an 'I'm sorry'. I decide to ask my dad if I can go outside. He says yes as long as I'm back by 9:30. I hop out the same window and follow their general direction. I eventually hear them arguing with Seifer cursing profusely at Setzer. Calling him things I'd rather not repeat. When they hear me come Seifer shuts up and Setzer turns around nervously.

"Hey." I say sheepishly.

"What's up?" asks Setzer. I could tell he was trying to mask the nervousness in his voice.

"Just thought I could hang out with you guys. Do you mind?" It was directed more so towards Setzer than Seifer.

"Sure." says Setzer. Seifer glares at him, but Setzer just shrugs. We walk on in silence for about half an hour till we finally reach the park. It's small and a little rusty with a bathroom/water fountain area and a large field of grass behind it. There are two swing sets and a main area with a couple of slides and pole. The main area that you step on to reach the slides is elevated high enough for a child to fit under. I scrunch myself into the area below. Setzer was about to follow me but was called by Seifer to the top. He puts the bats near the bathroom and jogs over to Setzer. They have a hushed conversation. I was able to catch bits and pieces of what Seifer was saying. Stuff like, "...him or me..." and "...I'm your cousin not him...". Then I feel something wet and warm on my head. I look up to see Seifer grinning and Setzer fuming, his face contorted in anger. Then when I reach up with my hand and touch the wet spot, I realize what happened. Seifer had just spat on me. Probably one of the most disrespectful things anyone could have done.

"What was that for?" I yell, trying to wipe off as much as possible.

He snickers and plays dumb. "What are you talking about?" he asks oh so innocently.

"You know what I'm talking about!" I scream. Now I'm angry. "I haven't done a thing to you and you spit on me!"

He comes down the steps with Setzer tailing him. "What ever you say." He says as if he hadn't done anything. I would love to just beat that smug little face of his to a pulp. That is what I would LIKE to do. But, unlike Seifer, I am disciplined. I know right from wrong and I know that beating him up would probably not be a good thing. So I restrain myself and leave the savagery to my imagination. Setzer walks up to me and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Please just let it go." he whispers.

"Fine." I say through clenched teeth. Setzer backs up and behind him I can see Seifer looking me up and down.

He smirks and says, "Why don't we have a race." I guess he was sizing me up. Unfortunately, for him anyway, he doesn't know that I have been playing soccer since I was seven. Not only can I run quickly, but also for long periods of time. This is a must though, since one of Hayner and I's "barbaric decision making processes" is racing down the street. He runs track, I play soccer, so it's usually pretty even. I look at Setzer and he looks a little worried. He probably knows that Seifer just wants to beat me in something. Heh, as if I'd let him beat me in a race. I agree. We walk over to the field and Setzer walks over to the finish line. About 200 meters away.

"You ready Rucksack." he taunts. Man is he in for a surprise.

"It's Roxas. And yeah, I'm ready." I wanted to say more but decided against it.

"Alright!" calls Setzer, "Ready! Set! GO!"

We both sprint in a mad race to the finish. He starts off in front but I quickly catch up to him and begin to pull away. He looks at me in frustration and forces his little body to the limit but it is no match for me. I reach Setzer before him and I'm barely even tired. He comes up a few seconds after me and catches his breath. Once he's pulled himself together he looks at me, anger etched across his face.

"You have to admit he is fast Seifer." Setzer turns to me, "Nice job Roxas, no one in our family has ever beaten Seifer in a race. Well, Luxord has, but he wins in everything so we usually don't count him." He laughs a little and I join in. Seifer, however, is not happy.

"Not like you're the best in everything. Setzer here would smoke you in a Struggle match! He's one of the best in our city. A REAL champion! Go on and fight him Setzer!"

Setzer shrugs, "You up for a Struggle match?" he asks. I nod yes. I'm not the best struggle fighter out there, but I'm decent. Besides, I have nothing to prove to Setzer, he already accepts me as family. We grab the bats and brawl. After about five minutes of merciless beatings I admit defeat. Wow, Setzer turns into a BEAST when he struggles. I think I saw his eyes go blank during our fight. No joke! Of course Seifer jeers at my loss but I just shrug him off and go to the bathroom. It wasn't a big deal anyway, I mean he called me a 'chickenwuss'! What kind of name his that. I chuckle. He's so immature. As I walk out of the bathroom my laughter dies almost instantly. I see no one. Not Seifer or Setzer. I look around the park and field. They are no where. They ditched me. I don't believe it. They left me in the middle of a park in the middle of some town I've never been to before. Great! It's eight O'clock now. I have a whole hour and a half to get back! It only took us about a half hour to get here. I should be able to find my way back in time.

Two hours have passed by and I'm still lost. Scratch that, I'm more lost than I was before. It might have been easier if we hadn't taken so many turns and cuts. Now I'm in the middle of the city with no idea where I am! I left my cellphone at home and no one seems to know where Luxord lives. It's as if he doesn't exist! Ugh! It's late, it's dark, and it's cold even though it's summer. I guess Destiny Island nights are always cold. I sit on the side of the rode and watch what few cars there are role by. Then I bury my head into my knees and arms and sigh, trying to keep warm. Life sucks. I've been ditched by someone who I thought cared at least a little about me. I'm cold and hungry. I'm lost and this car won't stop honking at me! I walk over to the car to give the driver a piece of my mind. I'm in RAGE mode now and I don't care who's driving. I am going to yell at somebody! The driver side window rolls down and my jaw drops. The person who I was about to yell at was Larxene. She smirks.

"You need a ride? I've been following you for the past half hour and you look lost." she snickers. I nod yes, too relieved to be angry. She unlocks the back door and Namine is in the back. Her suitcases have been stuffed into the front and back seats and there is barely enough room for two people. I motion for her to step out so I cant take the middle, giving her more space.

"Come out so I can get in the middle." I ask politely

"No. You can sit there." she objects

"Yeah but I'm the one hitching a ride I just think it would better if-"

"Roxas," says Larxene through clenched teeth. "Get in the car NOW before I leave you!"

I hop into the car and slam the door. It is too tight for seat belts so I just lay my head on the window sill and mull things over in my head.

"Since you decided to travel AWAY from the house, it's going to take us about 45 minutes to get back." says Larxene apparently annoyed. I'm too tired to defend myself. My head is cloudy and I just want to go to sleep. Luckily, Namine speaks for me.

"It's not his fault Larxene. He didn't know the way back." I just continue stare out the window even though I can see her turn to me from the corner of my eye. I'm not sure what she expects from me though. Namine looks away looking disappointed. I have absolutely no idea what she wanted me to do but apparently Larxene did.

"HA! What's the matter Namine, things not work out like in the shojo manga you were reading earlier?" Namine flushes a bright red. I turn to her inquisitively.

"I-I don't know what your talking about Larxene!" her voice is firm but her bright red face pretty much says the opposite of what her mouth says. Now, I don't read manga. I know Hayner reads some and so does Selphie. In fact, I remember Selphie mentioning something about shojo a while ago. Huh, interesting.

"What's shojo?" I ask curiously. At this Namine glares at Larxene who shrugs and ignores my question. "Well what is it? I'm sure it's not embarrassing. My sister reads it all the time." I turn to Namine and whisper "Is it a girl thing?" Larxene bursts out laughing, and Namine turns away. I try to make more conversation, "So, why did you guys put all of Namine's suitcases in the front and back seats instead of in the trunk."

"All my precious stuff's in the trunk, so we had to put her crap up here." says Larxene flatly.

I just sigh and lay my head back on the window. We go on for the next half hour in almost total silence. Just the sound of the car, the road, and Larxene occasionally mumbling things like, "naive" and "reality" and "shojo", sometimes chuckling to herself. Namine seems a little upset but I'm just confused. We reach home and I step out of the car and ring the door bell. It's almost eleven and dad is going to be pretty angry if I don't explain what happened quick.

Dad and Luxord come rushing to the door, "Are you alright?" is the first thing dad asks as he and Luxord bring me inside. Once inside I tell them about what happened at the park and why I was home so late. He understood.

"I thought something was up when Seifer told us they had lost you. I knew you wouldn't go running off on your own like that." dad said, "Setzer had confessed and set back out to look for you about an hour ago and we all soon followed suit. We came back to think of other places you might have gone."

"Thanks. Larxene found me actually. She's outside right now with Namine's stuff." He sends me upstairs to the loft as he goes to help Namine and Larxene. When I reach the loft, I see Selphie lying on the couch. Her eyes light up when she sees me.

"Roxas!" she runs over to me and gives me a hug. "I was so worried! I can't believe they ditched you." She scrunches her nose, "And Seifer had the nerve to lie about it. At least Setzer told the truth and went back out to search for you. He only got a lecture from Mrs. Tifa and Luxord. They decided to deal with Seifer tomorrow though. Oh! I'm so glad your safe!" she exclaimed giving me another hug. I hug her back.

"Thanks Selphie. Um, could you leave. I've kinda had a long day and want to go to sleep."

She turns around to leave but the stops and looks back toward me "Listen, I saw you earlier when dad was kissing Mrs. Tifa." a knot formed in my stomach. "Everything is going to be alright Roxas. You'll get used to it. Remember, they're married and married couples do stuff like that. Dad loved mom, and now he loves someone else. Are you feeling alright?" she asks concerned. I nod yes, afraid I might break down in front of her if I speak. She gives me a smile and walks.

I grab a few clothes and a washcloth and towel and then realize I STILL don't know where the bathroom is. "Hey Selphie!" I see her turn to me from over the railing. "Where is the bathroom?"

"It's the middle door in the loft. Luxord mentioned it twice during his tour. Weren't you paying attention?"

"Thanks." I say ignoring her question. I take a quick shower and come out without a shirt on. My face heats up when I see Namine setting up her air mattress next to mine. She is already changed into a t-shirt and shorts. She notices me without a shirt on and flushes turning away. "Oh, s-sorry." I mutter while quickly putting my shirt on. I walk over to one of the closets and pull out a few comforters for us. I hand one to her and she gives me a small thank you. She still seems troubled from earlier.

"So," I start, "what's shojo manga?" I ask just trying to make conversation. She just sighs and lays down on her mattress. She turns to face me.

"Can we talk tomorrow Roxas? I really tired."

"Ok. I can wait." I give her a tired smile. She returns it and turns away from me.

"Goodnight Roxas." she says yawning.

"Goodnight Namine." I turn out the lights and lay in my bed facing up towards the ceiling. I think about all the things that happened today meeting new and strange people, getting lost, but one thing above all rises in my thoughts and that's Seifer. How I would love to ring his skinny little neck. Then I remember Luxord and what he said about Larxene. Hmm, if there was one word I could use to describe Seifer, it would probably be infamous. Not because he is a generally good person with bad qualities like Larxene, but because he is a generally bad person with terrible qualities. Heh, I wonder...

Infamous. INfamous. _Infamous..._

**A/N: I am soooo sorry for the late update but it took me longer than I predicted. A LOT longer! Any way hope you guys like it. This chapter is very long so that should make up for the lateness. Like I said before, after this I will probably be updating only once a week because school starts this tuesday, off-season wrestling practice is monday and thursday , and I have Ju-Jitsu on tuesdays and Saturday! And somewhere inbetween all that I have to fit C-Walking so I can get better! O_O Oh and you guys should definitely review! ;D This is my first fanfiction and I like to know what I'm doing right and wrong. I also like to know if people actually enjoy my story. Oh yeah and none of you took the challenge I posted! Though there was probably no need since there is no suspense and I update every few days. Lol Whatever. The answer was the Great Bay region from Legend of Zelda Majora's mask. :p This isn't a challenge but were you able to figure out what Luxord's 'job' is? If you want to know the answer, you should totally put it in your REIVEW (wink wink). Oh btw, that scene where Hayner gives his definition of the word 'infamous' I got from the Three Amigos! Really funny movie! lol Whatever, till next time, most likely next week, on Singing Bl- er sorry, Highway Blues!**

**Review Response:**

**Angel – Thanks! Yeah, Tifa and Cloud are together... for now! :D Read on to find out. Remember, it's not just Roxas vs. Seifer, it's the Strifes vs. the Highwinds. **

**Moro – Glad you like the story! There will be more of Namine in the coming chapters. Remember that I'm trying to keep this story both entertaining and realistic so don't expect a ton of fluff in the beginning. Just small hints here and there. ;)**


	4. From a Nightmare to a Dream

_Highway Blues_

_From a Nightmare to a Dream_

"Roxas."

"Mom?" I look into her loving green eyes unable to believe it.

"Of course its me." she says playfully. "Who did you think it was?" I run up to her and hold her tight not wanting to let go. I'm overwhelmed! My mom is here, right in front of me! Holding me tight. It's like a dream.

"I thought you were gone." I say in her arms never letting go, "I thought you had died."

"Of course not." She says kissing me on my forehead and looking down at me. "I would never leave you Roxas." I push the bad memories away dismissing them off as a dream. I just want to stay here forever...

_(crash)_

My eyes shoot open. The sound of glass breaking fills my ears and I can here commotion downstairs. I can tell Mrs. Tifa is yelling and I think I can hear Seifer too. I hear them all crowding around the door so I walk over the staircase to see what's going on. The clock on the wall says 7:33 and a broken vase is lying on the ground. Luxord is standing over the vase mourning over it. I look past him and see Seifer, Mrs. Tifa, and Dad all crowding out of the door and out onto the porch. Dad looks furious but I can tell he is trying to let Mrs. Tifa handle it. They all head outside and Luxord just manages to squeeze through before they slam the door. In the corner of my eye I see Namine jolt a little but when I walk over to sit on my mattress I can see she is still asleep. My mind tries to process what's just happened. I take a deep breath and silent tears begin to fall down my cheek. Nothing in my life seems to be going right. I dream about mom being alive even though she's gone, Mrs. Tifa and Seifer are fighting outside (And from what dad tells me this isn't the first time), my step-siblings don't like me, or at least Seifer doesn't. What's good about ANY of this? Yeah, dad gets to marry someone he loves, but did he stop to think about what would happen to the rest of us? Dad said this would all work out for the better, but everything has just gone from bad to worse. I feel miserable. I hitch a breath and more tears fall down. Tears of sadness, anger, and frustration stream down my face. Then the dream comes back. It seemed so real. I could feel her, smell her, touch her. But it was all a dream, no a nightmare. It's like my mind is playing tricks to push me deeper into my depression. Torturing me in my sleep. It worked. I sit on the mattress, lightly sobbing, and place my hands over my face to hide myself from the world.

"Roxas?" I look up to meet Namine's worried gaze. I quickly turn away and burry my face in my pillow to soak up the sobs. "It's OK to cry Roxas. What's wrong?" I hate when people see me cry. It's embarrassing. She walks over to me and sits on the head my bed.

"Nothing you can help with." I tell her truthfully lifting up my head to look at her. Really, there is nothing she can do. My mom is dead and my dad is married. There is nothing she can do about it. I must have looked pretty pathetic considering she gasped when she saw me. I flip over onto my back so I can see her better. She looks really worried.

"Well um, do you wanna talk about it?" she asks shyly

I think about it for a sec. I don't know her very well, but it would be nice to vent all these emotions out. I take a deep breath and think about it. Well, I'm probably never going to see her again so why not?

"Well, nothing seems to be going right. Waking up to arguments, Seifer is making my life miserable, I keep dreaming o-" I choke on the words and more tears well up in my eyes. I pull myself together just long enough to let our a "never mind." Then I flip onto my stomach, bury my face in my pillow, pull the covers over my head, and bawl my eyes out. I don't really care who sees right now. I don't care that Namine is sitting right next to me probably worried, or that she probably thinks I'm the softest guy she has ever seen. After a I calm down a bit, I peek out from under the covers to look at Namine. She had curled up in her bed under her covers and is facing me she catches my eye and gives me a soft smile. I come out from under the covers and sit up straight.

"Feeling a little better?" she asks sitting up as well.

My eyes hurt and the air is thick. I need to get out of the house. "No. Not at all." I say truthfully. Her smile fades and she looks down at her hands. "It's not your fault Namine." I assure her. "There really isn't anything you can do. After all, you know absolutely nothing about me and I only just met you." I state plainly

"Y-yeah, right." She looks down at her hands and a faint blush paints her cheeks. I just shrug and walk over to the bathroom. While I'm washing up I can hear the door slam but there is no yelling. I guess the argument is over. As I turn off the shower, I can here Mrs. Tifa telling Seifer off. I brush my teeth, throw on a pair of khaki pants and a black T-shirt, then head out the door. Namine is gone. I look over the railing and the only ones I can see are dad and Mrs. Tifa sitting on the couch looking exhausted.

"Hey dad, mind if I go for a walk?" I ask walking downstairs. He looks over at me tiredly and nods.

"Just bring your cellphone in case you get lost." he drawls, his eyelids slowly drooping.

I hop up the stairs two at a time, grab my cell, spot my backpack, grab it too, and return down the same way. As I step out the door a nice breeze greets me. A nice day to walk, to think. I walk down the street and eventually reach the city. It's closer than I thought. Only a half hour walk away. I stop by a local restaurant and wait in line. It's small and made almost entirely of wood but I can tell it is well maintained. The lights are dimmed just a little to give it a sort of cave like feeling but in a good way.

"Helloooo handsome." The cashier winks at me. She looks about my age with blonde hair and an orange shirt. Her name tag says 'Rikku'. "In case you haven't noticed my name is Rikku. How's it goin?" She smiles sweetly at me. I blush not sure what to say. She just giggles.

"Uhh," I stammer awkwardly. "don't you have other customers or something. What I mean is, shouldn't you take my order so you can help the other customers?" I look down nervously. She just smiles at me.

"What customers?" she asks innocently. I turn around, and the atmosphere sinks in. It's like the five other customers just disappeared! There is only one other person here and she is eating her food while watching... US! I turn around quickly only to meet a pair of light green eyes. She grabs my wrist and leads me over to the table where the girl is eating and tells me to sit. I obey. My stomach grumbles so I decide to stand my ground. I look her straight in the eye and try to look as serious as possible.

"Rikku," I say firmly, "I did not come here to talk. I would like to order my food and get back to-"

"Relax." She says putting her hands up defensively. "I ordered for you." She says it as if it's the most natural thing in the world. "Don't worry you'll like it." she says smiling at me reassuringly. I guess she noticed the annoyed look on my face. I relax a bit and she does the same, looking satisfied. "You're Roxas right?" I give her a curious look.

"Yes," I answer with hesitation. "but how do YOU know that?"

"Well, Olette told me, that's Olette," she points at a brown haired girl in an long orange shirt and pale yellow capris. I wave and she waves back giving me a cheery smile. "she told me that Namine met a nice guy at Luxord's house. She, that is Namine, said he had blond spiky hair and deep blue eyes." She smiles at me. I just shrug and wait for her to continue. "Anyway, Olette and I wanted to meet you but Namine thought we would embarrass her. Pfft, like that would ever happen. Or, at least it wouldn't have happened if she had introduced us to you earlier." She smiles evilly at Olette who grins back. I just sit not knowing what to do. "So what do you think of Namine?" She asks turning back to me.

I sit back and look up, thinking about how to answer this question. "Well," I start. "I don't know her well enough to give a full opinion. But she seems nice I guess." I scratch the back of my head nervously.

"Do you think she's cute." she asks with a sly smile. I turn red in the face and look down, pretending to think. Unfortunately Olette notices.

"Hey! He's blushing! Rikku he likes Namine." I look up and they both stare at me wide-eyed.

"I don't have a crush on her. Yeah she's cute and all, but I don't-"

"Ha! You got that Olette?" Olette holds up a tape recorder and my jaw drops. She presses rewind and then play. I can hear my voice playing.

_Roxas: "Yeah she's cute and all" rewind "she's cute and all" rewind "cute and all" rewind "cute"_

"Alright!" I say frustrated reaching for the recorder. She places it in her purse and begins to walk out. She knows I can't follow her or try to snatch her purse. If someone were to see me, well you get the picture. I huff and sit down looking at Rikku who, again, looks satisfied. "What was that all about?" I say exasperated. "You aren't gonna show Namine are you?"

"Well," she looks up in mock thought and smiles. "We might reconsider showing Namine if you have the skills we're looking for. We need a cute guy who can sing. We have a couple of backups but they're kinda... well you're my first pick so can you sing." I look at her in disbelief.

"Why do you need a singer?"

"Me, Namine, Olette, Yuna, and Paine are all part of a band, called the Gullwings, and need someone to lead sing for the Festival talent show."

"The festival has a talent show?" I ask

"Of course. Every year. But can you sing?" she looks at me desperately

"I don't really know." I answer honestly. I haven't sang since 3rd when they forced everyone in our grade to do the king tut dance

_(Flashback)_

_Dancing on stage singing:_

"_King Tut!_

_How'd you get so funky Tut?_

_Did you do the monkey?_

_Born in Arizona, moved to Babylonia King Tut!"_

_(Flashback)_

Heh. That was back when they could get us to sing and dance like idiots without knowing about it. I knew better in the 4th grade. When they made us do the chicken wing, I knew I was dancing like an idiot, unlike my classmates. I did the dance, but I did it with rebellion and as much poise as I could muster up, considering I was doing the chicken wing in the 4th grade. Yep I was a rebel, they told me to put my arms in my armpits and flap my arms, I put them below my armpits. They told me to flap three times, I flapped FOUR! They told me to step out my left foot, guess what? I step out my RIGHT! Of course I couldn't be too obvious with the whole "resistance" thing considering mom and dad were sitting in the front row but I did what I could. Several different people in the audience smiled, laughed, and pointed at me. I was so proud of myself when I stepped off stage and couldn't understand why dad was snickering and mom kept saying stuff like "he tried Cloud" and "it wasn't that bad". Or why one of the teachers walked up to mom and said he wanted to "evaluate" me. That is, until I saw the tape. I was so out of sync with everyone else it was insane. Everyone else actually looked good since they moved as one unit. I looked like that one "slow" kid everyone has in their class who couldn't get it right but tried. Because I was trying to be elegant while doing it I looked stiff and uncomfortable, though I really was uncomfortable. All those soft smiles they were giving me before were sympathetic smiles. I danced on the stage like an idiot. Ironic right.

"Hey!" Rikku brought me back to reality snapping and waving in front of my face.

"Oh! Right, right. Well I really don't know."

"Do you know Leavin' by Jesse McCartney?"

"Like the first few lyrics."

"Well? Sing!"

"But, we're in public. Other people might not want to hear me sing." I REALLY don't like to sing in public. It's just not my thing. I don't like to sing.

She sweatdrops "Roxas, we are alone in a hole in the wall restaurant. I doubt anyone will hear you and if they do, I doubt they will care. SING!"

I immediately begin singing what I know. As I sing her face lights up and she holds up her hand for me to stop.

"That was incredible!" she exclaims throwing her arms up in the air. "You sing JUST like him! Like your his twin or something! You are definitely singing for us."

"Woah, slow down." I say putting up my hands "I never said I would sing for you."

"Do you really want Namine to know you think she's cute?" She says raising an eyebrow. I think about it. I don't want to sing but I really don't want Namine to get the wrong idea. I mean, I just met her.

"Fine." I say with a sigh. "But the concert is in two days. This Friday. How am I supposed to be ready to sing with you guys by then?"

"Simple. We spend all of tomorrow practicing!" she says excitedly. She stands up quickly and pulls out a pen. She grabs my hand and begins writing "This is my number and address. Come by at 10:00 am. If you're not there by 10:05 we will assume you're not coming, show Namine the recording, and take out one of our backups. Got it?" she asks with all seriousness. I need yes and she smiles at me. "You'll do fine Roxas. And there is a cash prize." My eyes instantly light up.

"Money? You never said anything about money." I say standing up with her. She is taller than me by about an inch.

"Yup. 500 munny to the winning band. That's almost 100 munny each!" I could use some money. Besides, it's not like I want to spend the entire day in the house with Seifer being all moody. This could actually be fun.

"Well then, you can count me in." I say cracking a smile. She squeals with joy and gives me a hug.

"Hey Rikku do you-" Namine walks in and looks at us. I instantly break the hug and we lock eyes. She looks upset. "Oh, sorry I didn't realize I was interrupting something..." She turns to walk out but Rikku catches her shoulder.

"No it's not like that. Namine, I got us a singer." Namine's lips form an 'O' out of understanding. Then she smiles.

"That's great Roxas! I didn't know you could sing."

"Yeah. Neither did I." I say sheepishly.

Rikku yawns and turns around to look at the clock. "Wow. 8:30 already. Well, I'm heading home you guys want a ride?" She looks to me first.

"No thanks. I think I'll walk. Besides, I still want to see more of the city."

She looks to Namine. "No thanks. I think I'll walk."

"Suit yourselves." She says walking away. I hear her murmur 'shojo addict' before she leaves and Namine's face heats up. I was about to ask her what shojo is again when my stomach roars. Then I remember I never got anything to eat.

"Hey Rikku!" I shout. "What about my food?"

"Yuna put it on the counter before she left." She shouts, hoping into the car and driving off. I look behind me and see a small styrofoam box with 'Roxas' written on it. I pick it up and sit at a table, motioning for Namine to come sit next to me. She does. Inside is a star shaped fruit, a sandwich, and a note. I pick up the note first. 'Break the fruit in half and share it with Namine after you guys share the sandwich. Be sure to watch her expression, it should be priceless. XD ~ Rikku PS: Don't tell Namine about the not'. I shrug, stuff the not in my pocket, and offer her half the sandwich.

"No thanks. It's you food."

"What are you on a diet or something?" she blushes a little. "Look, please take it. I know you probably haven't eaten." She took the sandwich and ate it with a soft smile on her face. After we finished the sandwich I pulled out the fruit. Her eyes widen. I break it in half and she gasps and blushes madly when I offer it to her. "What?" I ask confused. "Does it taste bad?" I take a bite of my piece and smile. It tastes great! Like kiwi, and strawberry, and pineapple and some other fruit I don't know about. "This is amazing!" I exclaim. "You have to try this! Come on Namine. For me?" Her face turns even redder but she takes it and eats. She calms down and actually seems to be enjoying herself. That's a first for the day. "Ready to head out?" I ask finishing up my food and throwing it into the nearby trash can.

"Sure. Where to?" she asks getting up and dusting herself off.

"I dunno. Just walk around I guess." I shrug and head towards he door with her tailing closely behind me.

We've walked around for about an hour looking at different sights, hanging by the beach, and talking about each other. Turns out she is shy and fragile (big surprise there), likes to draw, play violin and stuff. I told her I like to play soccer, struggle, and play guitar. I don't really tell her about my past. I'll save that for when or rather if I get to know her better. Everything was great. The only annoying part were those random people telling us how we make such a "cute couple". Even if I do agree it's still annoying. Note, I agreed that we would make a cute couple, not that I liked her as more than a friend. Thought I slipped up? Not a chance.

"So what happens at the festival?" I ask as we walk down the beach.

"A lot of different things. There's rides and food and games." She says counting off on her fingers. "And of course the talent show." she says smiling at me.

"Sounds like fun! I can't wait." I look at the setting sun, admiring its beauty, and then at my watch. I reads 7:30. "We better head home. It's getting late."

"OK." she says yawning.

We arrive back at the house at about 8:10. I wasn't expecting much. After all, I had often times gone on long walks back in home. And dad didn't say much, until he saw Namine come in after me. "Well, well, well," he says with a smirk. He sets his book down and turns to face us properly. His eys flick from me to Namine and back again. "what have we here? So you guys decided to go on a date? Roxas you just met her." He says frowning playfully. Namine looks embarrassed and I'm no better off.

"I think I'm going to bed." I announce.

"But it's only 8 o'clock." Dad say looking at me in disbelief. "And you haven't eaten dinner yet."

"We ate while we were out." I say turning to head upstairs.

"Out on your date?" he says with a snicker.

"If that's what it's called when two friends go out, then yes."

He scoffs. "Hm. Just don't make any noise when yo wake up in the middle of the night." He says returning to his book. I head upstairs, take a quick shower and change into a t-shirt and shorts. Namine, is sitting on her mattress getting her covers ready when I walk in. Her hair is still wet from her shower. I flop down on my air mattress and some of the air squeezes out. Namine, who had just gotten finished eating and showering downstairs, just laughed at me and lied down on her bed. I crack a smile and roll over, pulling the covers off the floor and over me.

"Felling better?" she asks turning to me.

I look deep into her eyes and sigh. "Yeah. A lot better than this morning." I say with a smile.

"Good. Remember We have to be at Rikku''s house by 10 for practice. OK?"

"Ok. Good night."

"Goodnight." she says turning over.

Her image is burned into my mind. The day started out terrible. With nothing to look forward to but maybe a good walk. Now I fall asleep, dreaming of her, in a world without her. Ha! I'm so poetic. This day started out as a nightmare but quickly turned into a dream. A sweet dream. From a dream to a nightmare. No. _From a Nightmare to a Dream..._

**A/N: Sorry it's late (again) but you have to understand I'm under some stress right now. If you didn't notice this last chapter was rushed so please forgive any and all mistakes. Thanks :D! Since there is only ONE reviewer I will mention her in here. Thanks PhantomGirl! Ok I gotta go. Got practice soon see ya next time on _Highway Blues!_**


	5. Insomnia

_Highway Blues_

_Insomnia_

"Ugh..." I sit up on my mattress feeling lightheaded and tired. I try to lay down and go to sleep, but acid burns my chest and my eyes flutter open. It's dark, and I can barely see anything. I drearily stand up and grope for the light knob thing, almost tripping over Namine. I push the knob in turning on the light and causing both Namine and I to flinch. I squint my eyes and turn the lights to a dim glow. I lean on the wall with my eyes closed and slowly slide down for no reason in particular. My head is cloudy and my thoughts are blurry. I lie on the wall until my stomach brings me back to reality. It growls angrily, punishing me with light spasms of pain for not feeding it. It seems like misery is following around right now. My muscles are a little weak and I really don't want to move. Unfortunately, my stomach thinks that I should get my lazy self off the ground and feed it before it starts eating itself. I lazily walk downstairs and shiver as my bare feet touch the cold of the tile.

As I make my way into the kitchen, I glance at the clock. It reads 1:38am. UGH! Dad was right, again. Usually, when I go to sleep early, I wake up in the middle of the night. But I thought that because I was so exhausted and the day was so eventful, that I would sleep throughout the night. Obviously, I was wrong. I look into the fridge and a large bowl is already set in there for me. I open the foil and see a bowl of what looks like chicken tempura and rice. After finding the chopsticks, I decide to skip the microwave and just eat. I sit down on an island chair break the chopsticks. Greedily, I scarf down all the tempura and then finish off the rice in a few mouthfuls. I grab a cup, fill it with water, and gulp it down. My heartburn slowly begins to subside, as the cool water slides down my throat and into my stomach. I can finally relax. My head begins to clear, and my stomach is done with its temper tantrum.

I decide to walk upstairs and try to go back to sleep. I stumble up the stairs and push the knob, turning off the light. Flopping down on the bed and pulling the covers over me, I stare at the ceiling and wait for bliss. After about 30 minutes of unwavered staring, I accept the fact that I'm not going to sleep anytime soon. It roll over onto my side, then my stomach, then my side, then my back, then my other side, then back to my stomach, then I do some sort of crazy flip thing and land on my back, skipping my side. Finally, I can feel myself getting tired, and slowly dosing off...

I can feel myself being shaken awake but I don't open my eyes. I can feel someone shake me again but I just roll over and ignore it.

"I know your awake Roxas!" I can hear Hayner and he sounds annoyed. I really couldn't care less. I got next to no sleep last night or at least thats what it feels like. I really need more sleep.

"Maybe he's still asleep." Namine's soft voice enters my ears and forces me to let out a loud sigh.

"Told you he's awake. Heh. Namine, why don't you try to make him wake up. I'm sure he'd do _anything _for you."

I give a muffled, "Shut up Hayner."

"HA! I was right! Told you he's awake." Says Hayner triumphantly. "Why won't you get up? Is it because I'm not Namine?"

I slowly sit up and look at Hayner. I break eye contact and let my head droop. My head is cocked down looking at my toes. I am REALLY tired. I could sleep sitting up.

"What time is it?" I ask not looking up.

"9:45. Namine was trying to wake you up so that you could get ready. Apparently, some friends of yours-Rikku was her name right Namine?" he says turning to her. She nods yes. "Right. Well she is waiting outside for you."

I sigh and stand up. My legs feel like lead and I really don't want to move. But, I can't have Namine knowing I think she's _cute_. "Alright." I say half-heartedly and walk towards my suitcase.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to." says Namine caringly. I actually considered this option, then remembered the blackmail and grimace.

"It's OK Namine. You guys need a good singer anyway." I put on a big smile and even though Hayner snickers, Namine is reassured and that is what matters at the moment. I pull out a few clothes and change into a pair of dark brown khakis, a light brown shirt, and some tan sneakers. I walk out of the bathroom. "Hey dad, can I go out with Namine and some of her friends?" I shout downstairs.

"Be back by 10:30 Roxas!" He shouts back.

I make my way downstairs at a snails pace. It is unbelievable how tired I feel. You'd think brushing your teeth and stuff would make you feel better. It doesn't. When Namine comes back down she's wearing a blue dress that fades white as it goes down and a blue beanie.

"Ready?" I ask

"Ready." she says happily.

We walk outside and there is Rikku in a red Camero waiting for us.

"Hurry up and hop in!" She shouts, "We have a lot to practice!" Namine obeys and hurries into the front seat. I, however, decide to take my sweet time. There's no rush. I don't even want to- "Roxas, if you don't hurry up I'll have to 'replace' you. You wouldn't want that now would you?" I groan and pick up my pace. The car isn't even that far away. After all, its in the driveway. I just don't like to be rushed, especially when I'm grumpy and tired. I throw away my pride and resentment and hop in the back. As she drives off, I remember.

"I thought you wanted me to meet you at your house. Why did you give me your address if you were just going to pick me up?"

She turns a lane. "I realized that you probably wouldn't be able to find my house." She states it as if it were obvious. I feel uneasy and inquire more.

"And why is that?"

"Well," she turns onto the highway and in the distance I can see a dense jungle. "There are a couple of different reasons. One, your new and don't live here. It might be confusing trying to find your way around." I nod in agreement. "Two, you been lost before. If you got lost while trying to find my house, my dad would have my head." I begin nodding again but stop halfway.

"How do you know I got lost?" I ask accusingly. I can see Namine turn a light pink out of the corner of my eye.

"Namine told me." she says bluntly. I give Namine one of those sad "why" looks. She just looks down in embarrassment. "Anyway, as I was saying. The last reason is because my house is actually pretty difficulty to find." She turns onto a dirt road. "I live near a swamp. My dad, Cid, likes to fish and hunt and camp stuff." CID? "So we live where he can do all of that without having to go too far out." CID?

"Rikku," I say calmly. "what's your last name?"

"Al Bhed. Why?" I breath a sigh of relief.

"Just wondering." We drive deeper in to the swamp forest area and eventually stop at a a crudely built house. It doesn't look like they are poor, after all she's driving a camero, but it does look poorly maintained. Alligator bones are strewn about, some look like they've been chewed on by other animals. The house is painted in shades of brown and green to match the swamp nearby. Rikku parks her car in the grass and we step out. I take a breath and choke on the thick air. All around are trees and grass. The dirt pathway we were on has all but disappeared and there are only a about two or three more houses in the area. Behind the house is a large swamp and its just teeming with life. The ballads of crickets fill my ears, along with the spontaneous melodies of the frogs, complimenting the symphony of birds. I really should be a poet.

"Alright." Says Rikku turning towards me. She motions for me to come to the door with her and Namine. "You've never met my dad. He is different from most of the people you've met I'm sure. He isn't mean but he's kinda-I can't really describe him so you'll just have to meet him." She puts her key into the brass nob and swings her door open. It smells a little musky as I walk in. I see a short boy with a large jean jacket sitting on a couch to my left clipping his nails. His hood is over his face making it hard to see. There is a small stage area near the middle of the room with drums, guitars, and mics. I guess this is where they practice. To my right is a large staircase connected to the wall. There are several different trophies and taxidermy heads sitting on the forest green striped wall. "Dad, I'm home and I brought Roxas!"

I can hear boots thudding downstairs and into view comes a bald man with a weird tattoo on the side of his head. He has a shotgun on his back. "Hello Roxas." He comes up to shake my hand. He has a deep country accent but not like the ones you see on TV. I can actually take him seriously. Imagine Billy Rae Cyrus, take away his hair and everything that makes him 'funny'. Give a stone voice and a deep, not thick, country accent and you pretty much have Cid. "You ready to sing for the talent show?"

"Hopefully I will be by the end of the day." I answer honestly.

He chuckles and says, "I'm sure you'll do fine Roxas. I leave you guys to practice. I'm goin' huntin'- BOY ARE THOSE NAIL CLIPPERS?" I jolt at the sudden lash but Rikku and Namine seem used to it.

The boy in the jean jacket looks up and sighs. "Yes dad."

"What did I tell you boy! Nail clippers is for city people like this boy here," He points at me. "and females! I don't ever want to see you with these again Vivi!"

"But how am I supposed to clip them." He retorts softly, "They're getting long and hard to manage."

"I told you once, I told you twice, I already done told you a thousand times Vivi! You bite them off1" Rikku snorts back a laugh. "Watch and learn boy! You take em in your mouth like this." He puts his long thumb nail into his mouth, the bottom of his thumb facing up. "And just SNAP it off! Like this," He jerks his thumb down and 1/3 of his nail rips of! "Gah!" Blood is dripping and Vivi jumps up panicking. Namine looks revolted and Rikku looks unfazed

"I'll get the hydrogen perox-" Vivi is cut off.

"Boy you tryin to poison me? I don't need none of that new-age-magic-healin'-crap!" He sticks his thumb in his mouth and begins sucking. "Follow me all of you." he says.

We follow him outside to the swamp and he sticks his thumb into the water! Absolutely disgusting!. Namine looks sick and Rikku, once again, looks unfazed. Vivi just sighs.

"Now, first you got to dip it in this here swamp water for about 30 seconds." He takes it out, sucks the dirt off, and spits. "Next you get you some gator meat." He whips out his shotgun and shoots an alligator right by my foot. He pulls out his knife and skins it. After eating a little raw, really disgusting to watch, he wraps some around his thumb, ties it with string, and finishes with a grunt. "Now THAT is how you fix a cut! Why use hydro-whatever and band-aids when you got swamp water and fresh gator meat for free? Let this be a lesson to you Vivi, don't ever let me see you with them clippers again. You hear me?" Vivi nods and Cid pats him on the head. "Good. Roxas, your welcome to stay for dinner. You to Namine, I'm goin to go catch it now." He turns around and heads off into the woods.

"Told you he was different Roxas." I just shrug, not knowing what to say. "Let's get inside and start practicing." We follow Rikku to her living room and begin setting everything up for me to sing.

"Where is everyone else? Don't we all need to practice?" I ask looking around.

"It's just you Roxas and Namine. No one else really needs to practice but you. Namine just wanted to tag along." Hm.

"Whatever." I say putting the mic on the stand. "Do I have lyrics? I don't know the song by heart."

Rikku hands me a music sheet. "You better learn those fast. Your not gonna have a sheet come friday night." So I sing my part, altering my voice to fit the mood and the instruments Rikku says will be playing. For about 9 hours we practiced with breaks of course. I know the words by heart and know all the choreography. I think we might have shot at winning first place! And sum munny he he.

"Dinners ready!" shouts Cid from the kitchen. We all help ourselves the the large plate of meat on the counter, don't ask me what it is, sit down at a large wooden table.

"So how was practice?" he asks digging into his steak.

"Great!" I chime. "I know all the words and moves now. I think we might win!"

"Well thats good to hear." He smiles at me and then grimaces, looking at Vivi's plate. "Boy is that a 12 ounce steak?" he asks accusingly.

"I don't know. Is there something wrong with it?"

"Something wrong with it?" Cid exclaims. "Boy you on some kind a diet? Put that back and take this here 32 ounce like a man." He puts his steak on Vivi's plate with a thud. "Why when I was your age I had already finished m first 72 ounce steak. Possibly one of the happiest moments of my life."

"But isn't all this meat bad for you?" Vivi protests, "Doesn't it cause high-blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiac-"

"What is with you and all that hoo-haa?" Cid says pointing his fork at Vivi accusingly. He had another steak on his plate but I never saw him get up to get another one. Huh, whatever. "There ain't no such thing as 'high blood pressure' or none of that other stuff! Doctors make up that stuff to get you to buy them heart pills that don't do nothin'. Now eat up. I want all that meat off your plate. Both steaks!" Vivi slowly begins to devour the meat.

After dinner we all said our good byes and left. The ride home was oddly short. Probably 'cause I'm in a good mood with all that steak filling my stomach, and the talent show filling my mind. I waddled inside and fell right asleep, stopping only to take off my shoes. I fell asleep, knowing that I would sleep well this night, no nightmares, no heartburn, no _Insomnia._

**A/N: TECHINCALLY, its still monday on the west coast so :p HA! Anyway I really apologize for the late update. I hope you guys are happy, I'm up at 2 am and I have to wake up at 5 to run! Tommorrows gonna be a killer. Wish me luck! XD I'm not gonna do a review response cause its so late but thanks for the reviews any way. I'm always up for fresh ideas and constructive critisism! Also this is a poorly edited chapter or 'hot off the press' so excuse any errors thanks! I really had to crank this chapter out fast so I can get some sleep. Well, see you guys next time on _Highway Blues!_**


	6. Bliss

_Highway Blues_

_Bliss_

I open my eyes feeling warm and refreshed. Sitting up and throwing my legs over the air mattress, I see Namine is still sleeping peacefully. I silently step downstairs and walk outside into the fresh morning air, not bothering to put any shoes on. My eyes instantly lock on a ruby red pearl, floating in the sky. The sun looks amazing! I've never seen a blood red sun before. I stretch, yawn, and close my eyes, taking a deep breath. Instantly, the smell of salt water and fresh grass fills my senses and my body relaxes down to a sitting position. I gaze out into the sky for a while, feeling extraordinarily blessed, before I walk inside to find something to eat.

"Hey Roxas." Namine says just as I walk in. She steps downstairs and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Hey Namine." I say walking towards her. "You ready for the show?"

She smiles. "I can't wait! I know we're gonna win this year now that we have a good singer. Thank you so much Roxas."

I scratch the back of my head nervously and look down. I didn't really think it was a big deal and its kinda weird getting so much praise for something so small. I feel a little awkward. "Uh, yeah. Cool. I'm gonna get something to eat. You wanna come?"

"I already ate while you were outside. You were out there for a while. Do you feel OK?" Genuine concern fills her eyes.

"Just enjoying the morning." I assure her. She nods and walks back upstairs, presumably to get ready. I head into the kitchen and see Luxord pouring himself a large cup of coffee. On the plate next to him are eggs, bacon, and a small stack of pancakes.

"Good morning Roxas." He greets. He is wearing a form fitting black shirt, and black jeans to match. "How did you sleep last night?" Sugar and half-half are gently poured into the mug as he stirs his coffee with a silver spoon.

"Great! It feels nice outside too. So far today's gotten off to a good start."

"That's good. There's plenty of food left on the island." He points towards the mountain of pancakes, eggs, bacon, assorted cheeses, fruits, toast, danishes, and a whole bunch of other breakfast food. "Please feel free to help yourself." He walks over to the table and sits down.

My eyes grow wide as I stare a the feast in front of me. "You made ALL this while I was outside?" I ask in disbelief.

"Oh of course not. I've been down here since 7:30." he says taking a sip of coffee. For the first time I take a look at the clock. It reads 9:37.

"But when I woke up I didn't hear anything. In fact," I take a big whiff of the sweet smelling assortment. "I didn't smell anything either." I cringe at the thought and furrow my eyebrows. He couldn't have possibly made all that food while I was outside, but if he was cooking like he said, how come I didn't smell anything before. As another waft of food makes its way into my nose, I decide to forget about it and just eat. After all, who cares where the food came from as long as its here. After a large breakfast, I head upstairs and take a shower. When I come out, Namine is already dressed and ready to go. "So what time is the festival." I ask while ladling my toothbrush with paste.

"It starts at 10:00, but only you, Luxord, Setzer and I are here. The rest went to go help out early. Luxord is gonna take us when he's done eating."

"I'm already finished!" Luxord calls from downstairs. "You two ready to go?"

Namine looks at me expectantly and I nod. "We're heading down now." We walk downstairs and head into an area underneath the loft and through a door which leads to the garage. In side are two mustangs of different types, one red and the other blue, and a cruiser motorcycle. Setzer is leaning over a workbench, shuffling and cutting cards in a way that's both weird and entertaining. He uses all of his fingers to flick, pop, and shuffle the cards in a variety of ways. He looks towards us, smiles, finishes up his shuffle string, and pockets the cards.

"Hey! I am so pumped for the festival! I've been practicing my talent show routine for an hour now, making sure I have it down perfect. The rides are going to be AWESOME now that I have some people to ride with."

"I know!" exclaims Namine, "This is going to be so much fun. I can't wait to get on the Ferris Wheel. Roxas you have to go on with us. It's one of the tallest ferris wheels in the world! And there's fireworks at night, it's so beautiful."

"Sounds fun." I says with false enthusiasm. Not that I'm afraid of heights or anything. On the contrary, I'm a thrill seeker and love fast high flying rides. But, a ferris wheel, is NOT a fast ride. I don't even classify it as a ride, and Hayner and I go out of our way to scoff at both the wheel and those who ride it. If Hayner saw me on that 'thing' I would never hear the end of it. And if I went on it with Namine, oh man. It would pretty much be confirmation, for him, that I like her. But, I've never seen her this excited about anything before, in the short time I've known her. Maybe I'll slip on without him noticing. I really don't want to disappoint her, but I have a rep to keep. UGH! I'll figure it out when I get there.

Luxord presses a large illuminated button to open up the garage door, and Setzer steps into the passenger seat of the red mustang. Namine and I hop into the back, and Luxord sits the front, driving off at full speed.

"So where is the festival?" I ask.

"Not too far." Luxord answers. "It's at the beach actually."

"Cool. What are you doing Setzer? For the talent show."

"Some card shuffling tricks. Here watch." He pulls the deck from his jean pocket and holds it up loosely in the tips of his fingers. He turns around so he is facing Namine and I. "This is called the one handed shuffle." Expertly and seamlessly, he drops half the deck into the palm of his hand, flicks it up with his index finger, and slides it onto the top of the deck.

"Oh wow!" I say genuinely impressed.

"That's just the start." He says grinning. I expected him to do more but he put the cards back in his pocket and turned around.

"How do you plan on people seeing your act?" inquires Luxord. "After all, the cards are fairly small."

"I plan on having cameras that will take close up shots of my act. I already spoke with the admins and they said screens will be provided."

"Alright, just wondering."

I could hear Luxord's accent turn thick in that sentence and it sparked a question that had been bothering me.

"Hey Luxord, why is it that Tifa and Larxene don't have British accents but you do?"

"Well," He furrows his eyebrows. "I think it's because of our social lives and character. Tifa and Larxene were, and are, much more outgoing than me. Because they were always talking with different americans, their accents just faded with time. Tifa didn't really care either way, but Larxene was adamant about losing her accent. She was teased in high school unfortunately, and because of that she resents her accent."

"But what about you? Weren't you teased at all?"

"Not really." He smiles. "Actually, people loved my accent and often bragged about having a 'British Friend'. Girls think it's cute and guys think it's cool, so its really a win-win kind of deal."

"Then how come Larxene was teased?" I ask curiously.

"People liked her accent, especially guys. This often made her the center of attention when it came to guys. Unfortunately, a particular group of girls envied her attention and proceeded to harass her about her accent. It was just verbal at first but eventually they became more violent and because they were very discreet about bullying her, they were able to get away with it for two years! Eventually, they were caught, when Larxene recorded the offense on tape, but it was too late. Her accent was mostly gone and she decided she wanted to be like everyone else and so she did all she could to drop it completely. You can still hear traces of it every now and then, same with Tifa, but it is pretty much gone." Wow...

After about twenty minutes of driving, we reach the beach. I am amazed at how beautiful the beach looks. There are rides and games as far as the eye can see. At the center, I can see the Ferris Wheel Namine was talking about and it is pretty big. But uhh, its a ferris wheel, nuff said.

"Isn't the ferris wheel amazing Roxas." It was more of a statement than a question and I treated it as such, after all, you can't answer a statement. Luxord parks his car near the beach and we all head to the ticket booth.

"Three unlimited ride wristbands and one admission ticket please." says Luxord to the heavy-set woman at the front desk. Her name tag reads 'Mrs. Potts'.

"Sure thing deary." She heads into the back and begins tearing off wristbands.

I look up at Luxord. "You're not going to ride anything?"

"Well I plan to go on a few rides with you two. Might as well get the unlimited since I don't know how many rides I will be going on."

"No, that's not what I meant. I was asking-it was-who are you-BLEH!" I hate getting tongue tied. "Who is the admission ticket for!" I finally spurt out.

"Oh. It's for Namine." At this she turns looks down in embarrassment.

"Well, um," she begins while looking at her feet. "I was wondering if I could ride the roller coasters with you guys..."

"Listen Namine," Luxord starts. "you don't have to-" He stops when Setzer taps him on the shoulder. Luxord leans down a little and listens as Setzer whispers in his ear. Once they break, I can see Luxord's mischievous grin return. "Of course you can Namine. We wouldn't want to leave you alone while we go on all the rides now would we."

Her face lights up. "Thank you soo much Luxord."

"Oh, believe me it is _no _problem at all. Um, Mrs. Potts, I would like to change that one admission ticket to an unlimited ride wristband if its not too much trouble."

"Oh its no trouble at all Luxord. Especially not for someone from a neighboring district." At this she giggles. After we get our bands, I ask Luxord what she meant by neighboring district.

"In England, different districts have different accents, though we are all English. She recognized my accent's origin as a district near where she was from." I make an 'o' in understanding. Luxord surveys the area. The festival just started and there are already crowds of islanders everywhere. "Do any of you have a phone?" We all check our pockets and nod no. "Well, we can forget about finding Tifa in this mess. I left my phone at home and don't plan on going back to get it. Oh well, what ride do you guys want to go on first?"

Setzer scans around and settles on a large black roller coaster. The two man carts blaze by at what seems like lightning speed. The sign says '300 ft. of OBLIVION!' "Let's go on that one. Oblivion. It's new but based on the way they look," He points to a large group of people coming off the ride. They stumble onto the beach looking completely phased out, and one of them collapses on the ground. "It must be awesome!"

"Well then lets go!" Luxord walks off towards the ride with Setzer and I close behind him, but Namine looks hesitant.

"I don't know about this ride." She says staring at 300 foot Beast. "It looks really dangerous, and kinda scary." She grabs onto my shirt as we get in line.

"I know right!" says Setzer staring up in awe. "I can't wait!" When we finally reach the ride, the employee checks our wristbands, and lets us through the gate. Luxord and Setzer grab the front cart and Namine and I grab the cart behind them. "You guys ready?" Namine is tightly gripping my arm, not bothering to answer.

"Uh Namine, your going to have to let go so you can put on your belt."

"Oh right." She releases for a second, puts on her belt and takes a few deep breaths.

I can hear the grinding of gears and chains as the ride begins to move. Namine grips my arm tightly and closes her eyes, turning her head. The rides moves forward and up a really steep incline. I would be giddy with excitement if Namine weren't constricting the blood vessels in my arm.

"Relax Namine. This is going to be awesome!"

She takes another deep breath. "Alright Roxas." she says opening her eyes. She relaxes and releases her grip on my arm, but still grips my hand, interlacing her fingers with mine. This kind of awkward touching and handholding is really making me flush, and I can feel it in my cheeks. However, now that she's released my arm, I can focus on the ride, and as I anticipate what's on the other side of that rail, excitement overwhelms me. After what seems like a whole minute of climbing, we reach the top. Luxord is stroking the seat in anticipation. Setzer practically squeals with excitement. Namine grips my hand tighter and begins shaking a little. I shift in my seat ready for anything. The ride stops at the top...and BLASTS over the edge at rocket speed! On the other side of the edge is a black tunnel. Setzer and I are practically screaming as we spin and twirl in the darkness. Luxord is laughing heartily, and Namine is just gripping my hand tighter with every twist, spin, and turn. After a short lived, coaster high, we see the light and the ride slowly comes to a halt. Setzer and I are trembling with excitement as we step off the roller coaster. Luxord is giggling uncontrollably but Namine looks petrified.

"That, was THE most amazing experience I have ever had in my entire life!" I say looking at Setzer. His eyes are wild and blood shot but he looks satisfied. I'm afraid to look Namine in the face, but I do anyway. Her eyes are bloodshot with tears and she's shaking violently. "Are you OK?" I ask her. She nods no.

"Hey, Roxas come on! Next is Oathkeeper!" Luxord and Setzer are already heading though the exit gate.

"Oathkeeper?" I say chasing after them, pulling Namine along. "That sounds safe and slow. You wanna-"

"Safe and slow? It's the speed and height equivalent of Oblivion. Just the turns are different and the tunnels are bright instead of dark." I sigh.

"Roxas," Namine says, her voice shaky. "I really don't wanna to go on any more rides. Can we just stand by or something?" WE? Who's 'WE'? Suddenly she's asking me to give up one of the main reasons I came here, besides the talent show of course. Pffft, "WE". If she weren't so cute I would have refused in a heartbeat. But she looked so helpless, I couldn't refuse. I take a deep breath and recompose myself.

"Hey Luxord and Setzer," They turn around looking a little impatient. "I think Namine and I are gonna sit this one out." Setzer looks at me in disbelief.

"Come one Roxas! Why?"

"Well Namine REALLY doesn't want to go on. I mean look at her. She's still shaking from the last ride and I can't just leave her by herself. Sorry." Setzer looks down in disappointment but does not protest.

"Alright. We'll see you guys at the exit gate." So they walk into the sheer awesomeness that is Oathkeeper while Namine and I wait on the side lines.

"Hey, there's some games over there we could play." Namine suggests. We walk over to a shooting booth. Because we have the wristbands we get three free plays on every game. On the second try I win a large stuffed kirby plushie. She looks at me expectantly, but I avoid eye contact. She already stole my ride, there's no way she is taking my hard earned plushie too. When we get back I can see Luxord and Setzer hobbling forward out of the exit, gripping on air for support and failing. Annoyance courses through me.

And so it went. Setzer an Luxord go on a ride and I stay back with Namine. I have to be honest, it was REALLY boring. It wouldn't have been so bad if Setzer didn't come back looking so happy and excited after EVERY ride and constantly babbling on about how awesome it was and how I should have been on it. Yeah, we played a few games here and there, but nothing can compare to a ride. Once, Luxord stayed back with Namine so I could get on a ride. But only once. After we ate dinner and talked about how awesome the rides I DIDN'T go on were, we headed over to the ferris wheel is, the only 'ride' Namine will go on and enjoy.

"Come on Roxas, the fireworks are about to start!" I cautiously step onto the ferris wheel, taking care to make sure Hayner was nowhere to be found. Ignoring the snickers of Setzer and Luxord, I close the door to the compartment and look over the side, searching for the fireworks. "Look! There's the first one!" Green sparks fly up into the sky, then blue, the red, then purple. Soon enough a whole flurry of flashing fireworks is blazing in the sky. I have to admit, it does look beautiful, not as beautiful as the thirteen rides I missed, but they are nice. After about fifteen minutes, the ferris wheel lets us down. "Wasn't that great!" She exclaims.

Not as great as the thirteen rides I missed but, "It was pretty cool. The finale was awesome too!" Though not as awesome as the thirteen rides I missed.

"Yeah. Let's head over to the stage so we can get ready for the talent show."

We cross the beach and crowds of people and reach the talent show stage. It is elevated about four feet off the ground and is lined with blue curtains. We head into the back and see Rikku and the gang preparing their instruments. Rikku notices us and turns to greet us.

"Hey! We only have a little time to practice so hurry up and change into these." She tosses us our outfits and we dash to the bathrooms. All our outfits have matching shades of yellow, blue, and green to match the island. After rehearsing for about 10 minutes the announcer steps up.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome, to the annual Destiny Islands Festival!" Everyone screams and cheers. "Tonight there will be five acts. First will be by one of our own top struggle champions SETZER!" Girls squeal and cheer his name.

"Alright." Says Setzer. "Tonight I will show you guys a talent you never knew I had. Card shuffling." There are mixed reactions in the crowd, and some whispers. "Allow me to show you." A cameraman steps forward and his hands show up on two large screens on opposite sides of the stage. He pulls out his cards and begins shuffling. He starts off simple, like the trick he showed me, then his hands begin moving and shifting furiously, shuffling and cutting the cards like a champ. There are many 'ooohhh's and 'ahhh's from the crowd as he shuffles. At the end of his act, all those who doubted his talent were eating out of the palm of his hand. He walked off stage and the announcer spoke.

"Amazing! Next up is a band called the 'Gullwings'. They took second place last year, lets see if they can claim first!" We finish setting up out instruments and begin.

"Alright." I say into the mic. "Tonight we will be singing a song by Jessie McCartney called Leavin' and we hope you enjoy it." As I begin to sing, people start whispering about how I sound like Jessie McCartney. Girls start squealing, giving me a morale boost as I get into the song. I finish with a bang and the people scream. The announcer comes on stage.

"Great job! On the the next act!"

As we walk off stage, Rikku comes up and congratulates me. "That was perfect Roxas! There's no way we can lose."

After the other acts are finished, the announcer tallies up the votes. "This is the moment you've all been waiting for. The winner is...THE GULLWINGS!" The crowd screams as the announcer hands us the trophy and cash. We split it up evenly right there and cheer with the crowd. After about four or five group hugs, I spot my dad in the crowd and walk over to him.

"We won!" I exclaim.

"Nice job Roxas. How did they get you to sing though? You would never sing in public before."

"The money." I say showing him my earnings. He chuckles.

"Well it's time to go. You wanna ride with us?"

"No thanks. I'll ride back with Luxord."

"Alright then. See you at the house." He turns to gather Mrs. Tifa and her kids.

"Congratulations Roxas!" I turn around and see Luxord.

"Thanks! What time are we leavin'?"

"Right now actually lets head to the car."

We walked across the sandy beach, through crowds of people congratulating me on my victory. As I sit into the vinyl seats of the red mustang, listening to the low rumble of the engine, I feel at ease. Namine's head is resting on my shoulder and I can feel her soft hair comforting me. As the engine lulls me to sleep, I feel in absolute _Bliss._

**A/N: I try to update as often as possible but school is slowly sucking the life out of me. _ Anyway, use you imaginations for the costumes, I didnt have time to describe them. Also, some of you may not like roxas in this chapter. Just cause of his character whatever. See you next time on _Highway Blues!_**


	7. Die

_Highway Blues_

_Die_

_Good job sticking with Namine. She's had a rough life, and even if you don't realize it yet, just by hanging out with her, you've made her life that much better. Although you could have been a little nicer to her and all that sulking wasn't really necessary. I mean seriously, they're just rides. No, you didn't get to go on all of them, but you'll have your chance soon enough. You think Rikku's not gonna try to bring you back after how well you did at the talent show? You'll have your fun, alright? Now go ahead and wake up. You have a long day ahead of you..._

Drearily I opened my eyes but saw nothing but a bright light. I felt lightheaded and couldn't see anything. Slowly, the light began to fade and I remembered where I was. Hayner, Selphie and I were in the car with dad on our way to Twilight Town. Mrs. Tifa took her own car and, of course, her children were with her. Hayner was just dosing off in the seat next to me and Selphie was already asleep in the front seat. I sat back and tried to relax, but couldn't shake the uneasy feeling lingering in the back of my head. I was sweating, I felt anxious and my heart was beating quick as lightning, so I opened my window for some fresh air. Outside I could see a large city with a big beautiful clock tower at the center. The two large bells hanging out on either side disappeared as we went through a dark tunnel and into the city. The sunned beamed down brilliantly on the city even as it began to set. The streetlights glowed in the pink and blue twilight sky as the clock tower bells began to ring. We passed by several buildings and shops before we finally came to stop at in a large parking lot.

"It's 8:30 pm." Dad grumbled, "Why the heck is the sun still out?" He pulled the atlas over his face and leaned his chair back, obviously exhausted by the long drive.

"Hey dad can I step outside for a little bit?" I asked unbuckling my seatbelt.

"Yeah just don't go too far." He mumbled.

I stepped outside and decided to take a quick walk around the block. The sights of the city did well to distract me from my anxiety/nervousness/whatever it was that was bothering me. The shops were small and homey and all seemed to be a shade of red or yellow, though I think it was just because of the way the sun was hitting them. I saw a coffee shop and decided to get something hot to drink. As I walked towards the counter, the girl working there looked at me in surprise.

"Hello." She greeted me with a smile. She had shoulder length red hair and looked about my age. "I've never seen you here before. Are you new to town?" She pulled out a menu and handed it to me.

"Yeah, me and my family are actually on our way to a navy lodge until we can buy or rent a house."

"Cool. We don't get a lot of new people here so it's always exciting when someone new comes. How old are you? You in high school?"

"I'm 15 so yeah, still in high school. I'll have the caramel macchiato, medium."I said handing her the menu. "And could you put extra caramel in it as well?"

"Sure. Will that be all?" She asked as she typed numbers into the register, "And you can keep the menu." She said handing me the menu back. "To look at in case you wanna come back."

"Thanks, and yeah that's all."

"Alright it's $4.50 then."

I handed her the munny and she walked back to fix my drink.

"Yeah so as I was saying," She said from the back. "we'll be going to the same high school. Twilight High, it's just down the street." She came back out and sprayed whipped cream and caramel sauce over the top. "What's your name?"

"Roxas." I said blatantly while taking a sip of the drink. The hot coffee warmed my inside and that alone woke me up a little. Just waiting for the caffeine to kick in. I was about to ask her what her name was but two things stopped me. 1) It was on her name tag duh. 'Kairi' 2) She looked at me as if she couldn't believe what I just said.

"Roxas?" She repeated surprised. "Roxas Strife?" I raised an eyebrow in suspicion. How did she know my last name.

"Yes..." I answered slowly taking another, this time cautious, sip.

"So YOUR the Roxas Namine was talking about!" She said beaming. Instantly I felt heated and apparently so did the butterflies in my stomach 'cause they were fluttering like crazy.

"How-" I could barely get a word out before my phone began to ring. "Excuse me." I told her as I stepped aside to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hey Roxas," My dad answered on the other line. "It's time to go, are you far?"

"Bout a ten minute walk."

"Alright then, head on back we're leaving."

"Ok see ya."

"See ya."

"I gotta go." I said turning back towards the girl. She just smiled.

"Well alright. I'll see you at school and feel free to stop by anytime too."

"Ok, I'll see ya later uhh," I looked at her name tag once more, "Kairi." She giggled.

"See ya." She said as I turned and walked away. "Oh. And I'll tell Namine I saw you!" She added.

I wanted to ask her how she new Namine but since we were all apparently going to the same school, and I had to leave, I'll just ask her later.

Walking back to the car, I looked up and gazed at the clock tower and the sunset in front of it. It was a little darker now, but the sun was still above the horizon. Leaning back on a streetlamp I finally felt at peace. Sipping some more on the macchiato I was finally able to relax. Then, like a tidal wave, the anxiety and nervousness all came rushing back in, flooding my head, and my heart, both of which began to feel heavy. I continued walking back to the car, trying to organize my thoughts and rationalize my feelings. There was no reason for me to feel anxious. We're gonna go live with them but what could possibly happen? Seifer will probably be upset but he'll have to get over it eventually. I felt a little bit better but I could still feel that _voice, _that _feeling_ nagging at the back of my mind. If anything I should be more nervous than anxious, as I am a shy person at heart, although I do a good job of covering it. I looked up at the sky and caught a glimpse of a train shooting by. A clock tower stood behind it tall and proud. On it's edge were what looked like people, but with the darkness settling in it was hard to tell. The neon street sign said, "WALK" and I began to cross.

_HONK! HONK!_

In the corner of my eye I could see headlights rushing towards me! I jumped out of the way as a black car zoomed past me, spilling my drink in the process! The driver and the passenger flipped me off out of their moon roof and made a sharp right turn, not bothering to stop or even slow down for the stop sign. I could hear the sirens in the distance and soon saw them blaze past me, some making right turns and others making lefts. I can't believe they almost hit me. They weren't slowing down and it didn't look like they were gonna slow down for me either. Dumbfounded and scared I ran to the car and buckled up ready to go.

"Oh there you are, Roxas I was just about to call you again."

"Yeah." Was all I could manage. My heart was going about a million miles an hour and I felt more anxious than ever.

"So is this Twilight Town?" Selphie asked finally waking up.

"Yeah," He said pulling out into the rode. "But, as you know, until we can buy or rent a house the Navy is supplying us with an apartment on the base. So we'll actually be living right outside of Twilight Town." We pulled out into the rode and Mrs. Tifa, who was only a couple of spaces to our right, pulled out as well and began to follow us once more. He started driving and made a right onto the same street as the guy who almost ran me over. The rode was steeply inclined downward, and at the bottom of the rode was what looked like another city. It was dark, very dark. I assume that's why there were so many street lights. All of the shops had bright neon lights illuminating them like Twilight Town, but all of the shops seemed to be a shade of blue. It wasn't broken down or anything. Just very solemn. It seemed a lot livelier than Twilight Town, or at least, at night it was. There were people everywhere with there suitcases and cell phones. Taxis and buses lined the streets but surprisingly, the traffic was not that bad. We reached the base and, after the guard let us through, the lodge.

"Here we are." Dad said sliding his keycard into the slot. He opened the door and a rush of cool air greeted us. A small kitchen was to our left with a circular table and chairs in the middle. On the right was a coat closet with hangers. There was a living room with a TV and a door which led to a bedroom near the kitchen. "Alright..." Dad yawned. "Roxas, Hayner, Seifer, you're either gonna sleep on the cot, in the pull-out couch with Rai and Fuu, or on the floor." He pointed towards the floor in the other room.

"Wait, but there are two beds in here." Hayner was already in the second room, looking at the bed longing. "Why can't I – err me and Roxas sleep on this one. Then Seifer can have the cot and you and Mrs. Tifa can have the other one." He started towards the bed when Selphie pulled him back by the collar of his shirt. "Guh!"

"You forgot about me." She pulled him out of the room and brought her suitcase in.

"Yeah Selphie's got the other bed. But you were right about Tifa and I sharing a bed. Hehe." Hayner looked annoyed.

"I'm sleeping with Rai and Fuu." Seifer said darkly. It was the first thing I'd heard him say all day. He seemed angry, but, hmm – I don't know.

"Alright so who's sleeping on the cot?" Asked dad. Hayner and I smiled at each other ready to wrestle. "NO!" His voice boomed, I could tell he was tired and didn't want to deal with us tonight. "No, no, no! It's freaking 10:00 at night! This place is too small! You're gonna break something! You're not wrestling, NO! Play Rock Paper Scissors!" As he said this he slapped the back of his hand onto the palm of the other hand, subconsciously reminding us of all the spankings we'd gotten as kids. We both cringed.

"But dad." I protested cautiously. "Hayner always cheats and it's all luck and-" He looked at me and squinted his eyes.

"You wanna sleep on the floor?" I looked down at my feet. And whispered a 'no.' "Well then..."

"Alright let's do this." I said sounding depressed. I always lose cause Hayner always cheats. He had a smug grin on his face.

"Yes, let's."_ ROCK! PAPER! SCISSORS! _Somehow, by some miraculous twist of fate, I won. I actually won. Now it was my turn to smile. Hayner looked at me in surprise, then in disgust. I didn't care, I just kept on smiling.

"Well, well, well," I said stepping towards the cot. "What have we here?"

"frickin timburton oogieboogiefanboy cheatin"

"What was that Hayner? First of all, that fact that you know where that quote came from means you're just as much a 'fanboy' as me." I turned around and sat on cot, facing him. "Second, you cheat all the time, I just happened to get lucky on the one Rock Paper Scissors match that actually mattered." I stuck my tongue out, laughing. He scoffed and grumbled, grabbing his suitcase and walking to the other room.

"Roxas." I turned to my dad. "Tifa and I are going downstairs to take care of some last minute paperwork. Go ahead and go to bed. You'll probably be asleep by the time we get back." I yawned and nodded in response, lying back on my cot.

"Seifer." Mrs. Tifa looked at said boy sternly. He kept his eyes locked on the T.V. Though it was obvious he heard her, he was staring at it a little too intently. "Seifer!" He jumped, stirring Rai and Fuu, who were already asleep beside him. Grudgingly, he turned to her. "You need to go to bed. Turn off the T.V. and go to sleep." He didn't budge. "NOW!" She practically screamed.

"HM!" He turned off the T.V., threw the remote on the ground, and wrapped himself in some covers. She looked like she was about to lose it. Dad hugged her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist. She relaxed in his grip and he gave her a soft kiss on the top of her head. She breathed deeply.

"Come on." He said softly. "Let's go. Roxas, Selphie's in charge till we get back, alright?" I nodded, and they walked out of the room, locking the door behind them and leaving a spare keycard by the door.

I opened up my suitcase and pulled out a t shirt and shorts n' stuff and headed towards the bathroom in the bedroom.

Selphie, surprisingly, still had her clothes on. I looked at her curiously.

"Oh, I'm gonna go explore." She said cheerily. "Wanna come with?"

"No. I didn't sleep very well in the car. Didn't even get to finish my coffee." I mumbled the last part under my breath. She looked disappointed. "And besides, dad said for me to go to bed so, you know."

"Alright then. I'll be back in a little bit." She said walking out.

I stepped into the bathroom, undressed and turned on the water. Luckily, Hayner had already taken a shower, so I didn't have to wait for it to warm up. As the hot water passed over me, I could feel my heart starting to pump faster and the anxiety began to reappear and settle in once more. By the time I had finished washing myself, it had taken hold over my entire body. I'd been able to keep it in the back of my head but now, now it was unbearable! I was on the verge of tears! I sat down in the shower and rubbed my temples, taking deep slow breaths, trying to calm myself but to no avail. My body was shaking and I felt cold, even with the hot water streaming down. I lied back in the tub, the shower still on, and let the tears fall. It seems silly, to cry over an anxiety that shouldn't even be there, but no matter how much I tried to rationalize or calm myself it wouldn't go away. I closed my eyes and...

_THUMP!_

A loud noise broke me from my trance. As if on instict, I quickly dried off, threw on my clothes, and rushed out the door. To my left I saw Hayner had commandeered Selphie's bed, and was snuggling up in her covers. Running into the living room, Seifer was sitting by the TV, watching it with an angry scowl. His mother's suitcase was on the floor and all her stuff had been thrown out of the bag and around the room.

"Hey!" I said loud enough for him to hear me above the TV. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" He ignored me and continued to watch television. Getting annoyed I turned it off the and looked him dead in the eye. "You're supposed to be in bed. And you need to pick up your mom's stuff." I said firmly. He took the remote and turned the TV back on, ignoring what I said. Huh. Well then. I turned the TV off and unplugged it from the back. "Now pick up her stuff and go to bed." I said.

"Shut up fag! You can't tell me what to do!" He walked towards the TV and tried to push me out of the way so he could plug it back in, but I wouldn't budge. "MOVE!" He yelled, trying to get by. I grabbed his thin arms and pushed him back on the bed. His face contorted with anger and he started swinging at me. I caught his arm and pulled him to the floor, wrestling him on the ground. I pinned him with ease, and held him until he stopped struggling. "Fine I'll go to bed just let me go!"

"Really now?" I said. "'Cause you know if you don't I'll just pin you again." I smirked.

"I'm done just let me go." Cautiously, I let up off of him. He lied on the ground for a few seconds, with a blank face. Suddenly he shot up. His eyebrows were furrowed and I could see the rage encapsulating his body. His face grew red as he clenched his fists, and stomped towards the kitchen.

"You're gonna be dead when I'm done with you!" Fiercely, he walked into the kitchen, groping the walls. "WHERE THE HELL IS THE LIGHT SWITCH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice cracking with rage.

I laughed. "To the right of the door." I said willingly. I didn't think much of it. He was only 11 after all, and I could take him down easily. He flipped on the light switch, and walked to one of the counters. My heart stopped when I heard him open a kitchen drawer. The sound of shuffling utensils and silverware filled the air then Seifer finally slammed it shut. As he held up a silver butchers knife, I could see the malicious intent in his eyes. All the anxiety I had been feeling that day, it was all for this. A boy with a knife, intent on killing me. He took a step towards me, knife in hand and smirked.

"Well what's wrong Roxas?" He said, waving the knife around. "Scared of a little knife? Scared I'm gonna hurt you?"

"Scared to _die_?"

**A/N****: Wow guys it' s been MONTHS since I last updated. I'm REALLY sorry for the delay. I've been lazy and kinda busy but there are no excuses. I know it makes the story hard to follow when the stupid writer takes forever to update and for that I apologize. I'll update more regularly instead of procrastinating. ;) Oh and if you didn't notice, I put this story in past tense, instead of my usual present tense. It feels more natural and is easier to write in. But if you guys like the present tense better, then just tell me. (review) Anyway, please enjoy the next chapter of Highway Blues! :D**


	8. Life

_Highway Blues_

_Life?_

Waving the knife around, he gazed at the sharp blade in awe. I kept my eyes locked on him, not daring to blink. My heart hammered with fear and anger. I wanted to rush at him, rip the knife out of his hand, and throw him out the room. But the shining light from the steel in his hand kept me at bay. Unfortunately, the door was behind him and there was no way I could get to it without taking care of that knife first. I wracked my brain for an answer, but my mind only became more frantic as he stepped closer to me. "Well Roxas?" He looked at me with a large grin on his face. "Plug the TV in." His hand shook as he motioned to the TV with the knife. Not taking my eyes off him, I fished for the plug with my hand, found the socket, and plugged it in. "Turn it on for me." I felt for the power button on the TV and turned it on. Silent snow began to glow from the television. "Good boy." My face heated with rage. I wanted to tear him apart! But that knife... "Well now that you've corrected your mistake..." His voice trembled as he spoke, "Well now you die!" He stepped toward me and swung the knife downwards. I threw myself into the TV, almost knocking it and its stand over. There was nowhere to run! The TV stand and beds were blocking me on both sides and I was running out of space behind me.

"HAYNER!" I screamed my brother's name, praying for a reply. I heard a rustle of sheets and a high pitched squeal. Beside me, Fuu had woken up, her eye wide with fear. She backed away from Seifer, taking coverage behind a large pillow, as teardrops began to fall from her eyes. Seifer, blinded by rage, took no notice of his sister.

"HAHA!" He bellowed. "Calling for your brother? Can't even take care of yourself, pathetic."

He lifted the knife again, ready to plant it in my chest. Not sure of where to go, what to do, who to call, I just...

_Don't worry Roxas. You're not gonna die. I wouldn't let that happen. Trust me this kid doesn't_  
_know who he's up against. He's not just fighting you, he's fighting..._

I just...moved. Reaction, instinct, I don't know! But I moved! As he swung down, I place my hand under his arm, holding it still and swiftly ducking under it. Immediately, before I could even register what had just taken place, I was behind him and had wrapped my arms around him, placing both hands on his right hand, and the handle of the knife. "GET OFF ME YOU FAG!" He wailed in both fear and surprise. Neither of us expected that to happen. I wrenched his arm till he loosened his grip on the knife and ripped it out of his hand, cutting is leg in the process. He stepped away, and looked at his wound, eyes wide. I held the knife, keeping it pointed at him. He took a couple of steps back, before he scrunched his face in anger once more. "I'm getting my mom!" He cried, his voice coarse from screaming. He stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. I dropped the knife and ran to the door locking it.

I paced back and forth across the room adrenaline coursing through me. I mean WHAT! WHY! FRICKIN' KID JUST TRIED TO _KILL_ ME! I'd swear he was on steroids if he weren't so small! I mean! Gah, dang! He's insane! They left me alone with a psycho! Selphie's gone, Hayner might as well be. I picked up all of Mrs. Tifa's clothes and put them back in her suitcase. Afterwards, I took all the knives in the house and put them in mine. I looked back at the bed and I saw Fuu peeking out at me from under the covers. She was still crying silently. Finally beginning to calm down, I took a seat next to her and started stroking her hair, trying to comfort her. Her sniffles began to die down a little and, surprisingly, she leaned in a little closer to me. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, and her brother. They really only did what Seifer said out of fear.

"Does this happen often?" I asked her, half joking and half serious. She shook her head no. I sighed deeply. "You OK?" She sniffled once more and nodded yes. I sat with her until she fell back asleep. Eventually, it began to overtake me as well. I lied in my cot and started to doze off when I heard someone slam on the door.

"LET ME IN!" I heard Seifer scream. Like I was gonna let him in after what he just did, or rather, tried to do.

"I'm not letting you in unless my dad and-"

"We're here Roxas." I heard my dad say on the other side. "Go ahead and let us in." Cautiously, I opened the door and let the three of them in. Tifa gave me a dirty look as she walked in. I'm not sure what she was mad at me for but I have an idea of why. My dad refused to look me in the eye, and he looked confused and stressed. "Come into our room Roxas we need to talk." He said with his back towards me as he walked into their room. Nervously, I walked into the main bedroom slowly closing the door behind me. "Wait." Dad walked over to the other bed and shook Hayner. "Hayner. Wake up!" Drearily, Hayner opened his eyes.

"Huh…." He groaned.

"Hayner go sleep in Roxas' cot." Without a word, Hayner got up and left the room, closing the door behind him. As it shut, I could feel the tension set in. For the first time since he came in I glanced at Seifer. He looked back at me with a dark smile on his face. Obvious enough for me to notice, but subtle enough that no one else, whose eyes were now locked on me, would. I sat down on the bed opposite the three of them. My dad sighed and began to speak.

"So, Roxas, Seifer told us his side of what happened. He said that he was watching TV, and that you tried get him to turn it off. But when he wouldn't, you grabbed a knife and-"

"WHAT! BUT I DIDN'T DO-" Dad held up his hand signaling me to stop. I trembled with rage.

"Let me finish and then you can speak. Now, Seifer said you tried to cut him but he dodged out of the way and you were only able to nick his leg. He said he ran through your legs, knocking you over, and out the door to get us. What do you say happened?"

I was speechless.

"Roxas," my dad in a worried tone, "is that what happened?" Regaining my voice I spoke.

"No. No! Not at all! He did in fact try to watch TV. And I did turn it off. But afterwards he started swinging at me and I pinned him down. I let him back up and he went for a knife and tried to stab me. I ripped it out of his hands and he went running out the door."

"HUMPH!" Mrs. Tifa looked even angrier than before. "Then how do you explain the cut on Seifer's leg huh! You forgot to include that in your little story. I suppose Seifer just cut himself!"

"Tifa calm down-" My dad soothed.

"No! That boy of yours tried to knife Seifer! How do you expect me to react?" She said turning to my dad.

"Look. Let's just do this. Roxas did you or did you not cut Seifer?" My dad looked at me worriedly. He lightly bit his bottom lip and clenched his fist. I wish I could tell him no, but I did cut Seifer. Not on purpose though. I'll just have to explain afterwards.

"Well, yes. But-" Dad's head sank. Mrs. Tifa looked about ready to burst.

"'But' nothing!" She cut in. "Regardless you don't cut someone over a stupid television!"

"Let me finish!" I half screamed. "I was trying to take the knife and-"

"Look." My dad interrupted. He wore a grim frown, and it hurt to know it was aimed at me. "You cut Seifer right?"

"Well I-"

"All I want is a yes or no 'sir.' No excuses."

I let out a bitter, "Yes sir."

"Well, first of all I think you owe Seifer an apology. Go on." I looked up at Seifer and mouthed an 'I'm sorry.'

"Roxas!" Mrs. Tifa raised her voice. "You'd better apologize to Seifer NOW!"

"I'm sorry!" I half-yelled.

"Sorry for what?" Dad asked.

"Sorry for cutting you with a knife."

"It's alright Roxas." Seifer said with a sympathetic smile, "I forgave you a long time ago." My insides churned in disgust.

"Ok. Seifer, you're free to go." He got up and let out a sinister smile. I resisted the urge to snarl at him, seeing how I didn't want to sink deeper into trouble. "Roxas. I-I really don't know what to say. We can talk more in the morning. But for now you need to sleep in here on the floor where Hayner was until we can figure things out. Go ahead and go to sleep."

"Wait," I said in disbelief, "you're just gonna take Seifer's word and not hear me out?"

"You already told us what you did Roxas." He said as he started changing. Tifa had already gotten all her clothes and was heading for the bathroom.

"But you didn't let me finish. You didn't hear all I had to say." I pleaded. Surely, this couldn't be the end of it.

"I've heard enough for the night. Now, go to sleep. " He slipped under his covers ready to dose off.

"But I-"

"Roxas, go to sleep!" He said raising his voice. Grudgingly, I looked around for covers, soon realizing Hayner had taken both the covers and the pillow with him while walking out the room. Frustrated, I slammed myself on the ground, bumping my head and scraping the back of my arm on the carpet. I sighed long and hard, and then let myself go. Silent bitter tears fell from my eyes in an endless stream. No comfort in sight, all I could do was ask myself "Why? Why?" I let the words silently escape my lips. Why did my dad have to get married? Why does Mrs. Tifa have a demon for a son? Why am I even still here? For a minute or two, the thought of running away ran its course in my mind. There wasn't any point to staying. I was inevitably going to end up grounded forever. Mrs. Tifa was never going to let this go either. Is there even a point to staying? I rolled over on my side and finally stopped crying. Exhausted, I began to fall asleep. Mrs. Tifa let Selphie back in the apartment and she went into the bathroom with her clothes like Tifa. The lights were turned off and the shower started to run. The sound of the running water began to quell my aching heart, as I drifted off into places unknown. In my sleep, I could find comfort, if even for a couple of hours, from the anxieties of my life. Light shines and fades into black, as I slip into unconsciousness. Pain when I'm awake. Comfort when I sleep. I ask myself now, what's the point of _life?_


End file.
